Worlds Apart
by Jeremy Markenson
Summary: A mysterious woman appears and brings the tamers back to the Digital World, where they meet some familiar allies. Can they band together to stop the 12 beasts of the Zodiac, or will the powers at hand prove more dangerous than even the D-Reaper?
1. Exer

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any other copyrighted material that may appear in this fic.**_

**Worlds Apart**

**Chapter 1: Exer**

Rika leaned up against a railing overlooking the path towards Guilmon's hideout. She was panting slightly since she had run most of the way here. Knowing that the others were already there waiting on her she quickly started walking again taking the stairs down towards the path.

It had been three long years since the battle against the D-Reaper. Much to all of their surprise not much had changed. Takato, Henry, Rika, Kazu, Kenta, Jeri and occasionally Ryo still spent most of their evenings and weekends hanging out with their digimon at Guilmon's hideout. The exceptions were usually when Hypnos failed to stop a 'Wild One' from crossing into the real world. When that happened they would all meet and head off into battle just like in the old days. Those battles were becoming fewer and further between as the government poured more money and man power into maintaining control over the digital gate.

"Hey guys!" Rika called, still slightly out of breath as she approached the small stone shed. As she reached the entrance she glanced around. Takato was standing next to Henry near the door while Guilmon and Terriermon appeared to be having a staring contest. Kazu was leaning up against the door frame next to Guardromon. Monodramon was watching them both intently while Ryo sat on the ground looking at his cell phone.

"What took you so long?" Kazu asked in a snide voice.

"Like I'm gonna show up here in my school uniform" Rika replied coolly.

"I don't think any of us would mind!" Takato said laughing and holding up his arms to block the punch he figured would be coming.

"In your dreams goggle head" Rika replied, repressing a smile. "Where are Jeri and Kenta?"

"Kenta is sick and Jeri is doing something with her family I think" Takato replied.

"That sucks... Well what do-" Rika was interrupted by a loud beeping as a light show bright through her jeans pocket. She fished her Digivice out of her pocket and looked at it.

"Is it a wild one?" Ryo asked excitedly snapping his phone shut and standing up.

"Looks like it!" Rika replied looking around "So who's turn is it?"

"I think I'm up" Ryo replied.

"I thought it was my turn" Kazu said annoyed.

"Let's sort it out when we get their!" Rika replied rolling her eyes at the two. "Renamon! Let's go!" Rika called as Renamon appeared on top of the shed and jumped forward to join the group as they followed Rika towards the energy signal.

The group followed the signal through the streets. It was a mark of how much the world had changed in the last few years that except for the excited yells of a few children, hardly anyone even bothered to look up as the teens ran passed with their digimon. The group arrived on the south side of Shinjuku, where a rather odd site met their eyes.

At first site the lot appeared void of any digimon. Their was only one being in the lot, and had it not been for her position one would have never guessed she was a digimon. A young woman of roughly 20 years old was sitting cross legged in the middle of the grass. This wouldn't have been unusual except she was floating roughly 5 feet off the ground. In front of her a long staff was hovering horizontally. It looked like a stereotypical priestess staff. It was long and black with gold rings around a circle at the end. She was clad in what appeared to be a white hooded trench coat and white cloak. She had her auburn hair tied back in a braided pony tail that reached the middle of her back.

"I was just starting to wonder if I was going to have to come and find you" the mysterious woman said. She uncrossed her legs and touched her feet to the ground. "I have come to challenge you four" she continued as she pointed to Ryo, Takato, Rika, and Henry one by one.

"You wanna fight all four of us?" Ryo asked disbelievingly "You must be out of your mind lady."

"I'd be careful if I were you" Renamon said warningly. "I can sense her power and she is definitely a mega level digimon." 

"This stupid thing can't find any data on her either" Henry said angrily looking at the blank screen on his digivice.

"Very observant of you Renamon" the woman replied. "I am of the level known as mega and while I doubt I can fight all four of you, I am more than a match for any one of you."

"If you don't think you can win then why do you want to fight?" Terriermon asked.

"And why exactly don't you want to fight me?" Kazu asked sounding offended.

"I am only interested in the four that can BioMerge... It isn't personal Kazu" the woman replied.

"How did she know my name?" Kazu whispered.

"Just who in the hell are you?" Rika asked.

"I will explain everything after we battle" the woman replied patiently. "Now hurry up and digivolve!"

"Well you ready guys?" Ryo asked. The others nodded.

"BIOMERGE ACTIVATE!" they all yelled in unison as a bright light engulfed all four of them.

"Gallantmon!"

"Justimon!"

"MegaGargomon!"

"Sakuyamon!"

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Henry asked from within MegaGargomon.

"I must do this" the woman replied smiling casting off her cloak and extending her hand out to grip her staff.

The tamers spread out encircling her. As she placed her hands on the staff and struck a fighting pose a pulse seemed to run out from her. It traveled beyond all of them. It did no damage but was more than a little unnerving.

"I don't know what her game is but we need to be careful" Renamon said to Rika as she felt a chill ascend her spine.

"Right" Rika said staring at the women.

Just then the woman made the first move. She propelled herself forward and brought her staff around full force into MegaGargomon's chest. MegalGargomon stumbled backwards slightly as the women landed on his armor and propelled herself back towards the others.

"Amethyst Wind!" Sakuyamon yelled sending a storm of rose pedals in the woman's direction. The women turned and propelled herself upward but part of her left arm was hit by the attack.

"Light of the Heavens!" The woman yelled as she sent a blast of white light towards Sakuyamon.

"Crystal Sphere" Sakuyamon said as a bubble appeared around her. The blast hist her head on but the shield held. The force of the impact pushed her back into the adjacent building.

"Justice Burst!" Justimon cried sending a storm of lighting orbs toward the woman. She turned and deflected them by spinning her staff. This Gallantmon an opening as he came up behind her and brought his lance into her back full force, sending her spiraling down. She recovered just in time to hear

"Gargo Barage!"

A moment later she was engulfed in a torrent of missiles. She spun and managed to avoid some but was ultimately engulfed by a large explosion.

"Did that do it?" Justimon asked as a cloud of smoke spread over them. A few moments passed before they heard a voice call-

"Seraphic Wrath!" A jet of white fire shot out from the cloud of smoke and hit Justimon dead on. Justimon spun to the earth as a light engulfed him. Just as he hit the ground he split back into Ryo and Monodramon.

"Ryo!" Gallantmon yelled "are you alright?"

"Yeah yeah fine!" Ryo called massaging the back of his head. "Just finish this bitch will you?"

A few seconds later Sakuyamon charged in front of Gallantmon with another shield up as the woman came hurtling out of the cloud of smoke with her staff raised. A second later the staff connected and Sakuyamon's Crystal shield cracked. However it held together.

"Dammit!" the woman yelled as she was propelled backwards by the force of her failed attack. Sakuyamon flew out of the way as Gallantmon and MetalGargomon looked towards the women.

"Shield of the Just!"

"GargoMissles!" The two attacks both hit their mark causing a large explosion. The women floated down gentle towards the earth looking dazed. She landed in a kneeling position, leaning on her staff for support. The woman seemed to regain herself as Sakuyamon landed in front of her and pointed her staff towards her.

"Had enough?" Sakuyamon asked in a triumphant tone.

"Yeah... Yeah" The woman replied breathing heavily. "I'd say you've proven yourselves." All the tamers separated from their digimon and approached the women who was still kneeling before the spot where Sakuyamon had stood. Rika and Renamon were both standing in front of the woman with their arms crossed.

"I think it's time you explained yourself to us" Rika said commandingly as the rest of the group gathered in around them. "Let's start with your name." The woman chuckled slightly.

"A bit demanding aren't we?" the woman asked as she used her staff to push herself up. The tamers were surprised to see that she had few signs of having been in a battle recently. Her coat cut in a few places and was quite dirty. She had a few cuts on her face and arms, she also seemed to be moving gentle making them think she might have a few cracked ribs but considering the battle she had been in, it didn't seem very significant. "My name is Exer" the woman continued. "I am sorry about what I had to do but I had to make sure you were truly the legendary tamers."

"Exer?" Takato said questioningly. "You aren't a mon?"

"I am neither digimon nor human" Exer replied. "That is something I will explain overtime but for the moment just know that I am your ally."

"Exer isn't exactly an ordinary human name either" Ryo chimed in.

"Hm I'm sure the girl who I got the name from would think differently" Exer replied sounding annoyed for the first time.

"We have more important things to worry about than whether or not her name is 'ordinary'" Rika said in an authoritarian tone. "Why did you need to make sure we were the tamers?"

"Because I need your help" Exer replied. Exer walked over and retrieved her cloak. She swung it around herself and fastened it. The group could see a symbol stitched into the back of the cloak. It looked slightly familiar but none of them could place it.

"What do you need our help with?" Henry asked.

"For the moment I only need you to accompany me to the digital world." Exer replied turning to face them. "There I will be able to explain everything."

"And how are we supposed to get to the digital world?" Ryo asked tauntingly. "it's not like those digital fields just open on comman-" he broke off in mid sentence as a field of data mist surrounded them.

"Did you ever stop to wonder how I got here in the first place?" Exer said amused as they all began free falling through a storm of data towards the digital world.

The group burst through the top of the clouds as they plunged towards the rocky ground. Rika spun round and round trying to retain as much about the terrain as she could. There were tall mountains in two directions. One direction seemed to head towards a desert. The other direction seemed to head towards a large canyon where she was almost certain she could see a small group of people standing. The group miraculously stopped dead about 15 feet above the ground and floated slowly the rest of the way. The group noticed Exer's staff was glowing and figured she must have been responsible.

"We're a little further from the rendezvous point then I intended but we can walk." Exer said as they landed.

"Next time how about a little warning before you go dragging us to other dimensions lady!" Terriermon said indignantly. Exer turned to face the bunny who was riding on the back of Henry's head. In the mean time Kazu was bent over holding his knees trying to keep himself from hurling.

"Momentai" she said smiling before turning away and pointing towards some hills. "The others should be just over those hills at the edge of a large canyon. The group all exchanged nervous glances. This woman clearly knew a lot about all of them.

"So who exactly are you?" Henry asked.

"I thought I told you my name is Exer!" she replied giggling.

"Yeah that much we got but how do you know so much about us?" Henry replied patiently. After 3 years of putting up with Terriermon's smart mouth remarks, Henry was not rattled easily.

"I have learned much about you... Some of it through observation, other things I have learned from word of mouth... I know quite a lot about you, as well as your friends and the others." Exer replied as they reached the top of the first hill.

"Who are these "others"?" Kazu asked. "Are they others like you or are they digimon?"

"Well one of them is like me and some of them are digimon." Exer replied.

"So are some of them human beings?" Ryo asked excitedly. "Are there other tamers that we haven't met yet?"

"No they aren't tamers" Exer replied.

"Then what are they?" Rika asked getting slightly annoyed at Exer's unwillingness to give them straight answers.

"Have you ever considered that there might be other worlds out there?" Exer asked clearly enjoying Rika's annoyance.

"We're in the the digital world and you ask us a question like that?" Rika spat back.

"Calm down girl, I meant have you ever considered that there might be other worlds like yours out there?" Exer replied laughing.

"Well... I guess I hadn't" Rika replied "Are you saying there are other human worlds?"

"Several as a matter of fact... but digital data is digital data no matter where you are so they all link to the same digital plane of existence." Exer explained as the group began to climb another large hill. "We are going to need the help of you as well as the others to do the job at hand."

As the group neared the top of the hill they could hear voices coming from the top. It sounded like a rather large group of people were talking. They all were all curious about these people from other worlds, but nothing could have prepared them for what they saw when the reached the top of the hill. At the top of the hill stood a young man in a early 20's. He was clad in the same trench coat that Exer wore. Though his was jet black and had no matching cloak. He was tall about 6'3 or so with shoulder length brown hair and acid green eyes. However the groups attention was immediately drawn to the large group of people standing next to them. They all felt their jaws drop, because what they were seeing simply couldn't be real.

"Ah you're here" the man said in greeting as the group walked up.

"Sorry... We had to walk a little further then I intended when we crossed dimensions" Exer said cheerfully glancing at her companions. "I see you guys recognize the 'others' now."

"Oh" the man said stepping aside to reveal the group as a whole "Takato, Rika, Henry, Ryo, Kazu allow me to introduce you to Davis, Kari, T.K., Yolei, Cody, and last but no least Ken" the man pointed at them as he said their names. "I think you guys will know them as the digidestined... and me? My name is Liam"


	2. Liam

**Worlds Apart**

**Chapter 2: Liam**

"Hey guys!" T.K. called as he approached the small group of people gathered at the center of the village.

"What's up?" Cody replied, waving at the four new comers.

"Sorry we're late," Kari sad apologetically "we got stuck scraping gum after last bell."

"Dude that sucks!" Davis replied with a laugh.

"So why did you need to meet us here Ken?" Kari asked inquisitively. She glanced around at the village. It was comprised mostly of small huts occupied by Yokomon. They had been here a few times before, mostly during the rebuilding of the digital world after the battle with Malomyotismon.

Over the past four years the digital world they knew hadn't changed very much. After Owikawa had revitalized the world it had entered an extended era of peace and prosperity. The exception being that digimon now frequently traveled between the two worlds, and some humans other than themselves were also able to travel to the digital world. Truly anyone on earth should have been able to come to the digital world, however the government regulated the travel between the two worlds quite heavily.

Still Davis, Yolei, Cody, Ken, Kari, and T.K. frequently traveled back and forth. Usually they would come with the purpose of helping some of their digimon friends with building a bridge or dam. Though today they had met simply because Ken had asked them to.

"Well a couple of day's ago I got this weird e-mail... It didn't say who it was from, just to tell you guys to meet me and him here," Ken replied checking his watch. "Whoever it was should have been here by now."

"You dragged us all the way out here for an anonymous e-mail?" Davis asked agitated.

"Am I keeping you from a hot date Davis?" Ken asked raising an eyebrow. Everyone except Davis laughed. 

"What's so funny about me having a date?" Davis asked indignantly.

"The thought, the image... pretty much the whole idea," Hawkmon chipped in to another torrent of laughter.

"You guys suck you know that?" Davis said grinning.

"If this guy doesn't show in the next ten minutes I vote we all go get something to eat!" Vmon piped up.

"You just ate an hour ago!" Davis replied. Even after four years their digimon never ceased to amaze them. "Though I guess we could-" Davis broke off as he spotted a figure approaching them.

"Greetings Digidestined... I am sorry that I am late." The figure said in a muffled voice. He was wearing a black hooded trench coat, with the hood pulled up over his head. Under the hood they could tell he was wearing a mask that covered the lower section of his face.

"Uh aren't you a little hot in that?" Davis asked fighting the urge to laugh as the rest of the group chuckled. The man raised his head slightly so that the group could see what little of his face was not covered by the mask. They could vaguely see brown hair and light skin. However, the man's most distinct feature was undoubtedly his acid green eyes. To spite being laughed at the man showed no emotion.

"Come with me and I will explain everything," the man said turning away.

"Wait wait wait..." Davis said stepping towards the man's back. "We're not just going to follow you to god knows where without even knowing who you or what you want!"

"Hm" the man said looking over his shoulder. "Fair enough... My name is Liam... and if you will be so kind as to follow me out of town I will explain what it is I need from you." The man finished and began walking away. Davis glanced over at Ken who nodded. As the group set off following Liam, Yolei voiced the question they were all wondering.

"So um are you human or are you a digimon?"

"I am neither... and yet I am both..." Liam replied sounding eerily like Gennai.

"Oh great someone else who speaks in riddles," T.K. said laughing.

"I will elaborate on what and who I am shortly but there is something you must do first." Liam replied as he led the group out of town and into the desert.

"What could there be to do in the middle of the desert?" Ken asked.

"Fight," Liam replied turning to face the group. "This should be far enough away from the town... Now hurry up and DNA digivolve so you can prove yourself to me!" Liam demanded as he took a few steps back.

"Even if we wanted to fight you we can't DNA digivolve anymore!" Kari said angrily, "and why exactly do we need to prove ourselves to you?"

"Because whether your friends are at Rookie or Mega is irrelevant to me," Liam replied coldly. "And I assure you that you _can _DNA digivolve" as he spoke he drew his arms up over one another and brought them down. There was a flash of white light and he was holding two very odd looking swords. The two swords were unlike anything any of the Digidestined had seen before. It seemed as though the man had forged them out of two pieces of solid metal. The handles were skinny with a finger guard out around it. Just before the blade began there was a sort of zig-zag shape that created something of a gut hook. The blade itself was long and straight with a fine point on the end.

"I guess we don't have much choice do we?" Cody asked.

"Come on guys I say we teach this clown a lesson!" Davis said holding up his now glowing digivice. The others nodded and followed suit as their digimon digivolved to champion and were simultaneously engulfed in a white light.

"PAILDRAMON"

"SILPHYMON"

"SHAKKOUMON"

"I'm a mega level... are you sure you don't want to digivolve any further?" Liam asked as he kicked off from the ground and floated up to eye level with Shakkoumon. Paildramon and Silphymon followed suit.

"I think we'll be more than a match for you!" Silphymon called.

"Suit yourself," Liam replied. Then without warning he charged forward and slashed his sword out towards Paildramon. Paildramon dodged the attack and yelled.

"Desperado Balster!" sending a rain of energy bullets towards Liam. Liam flew out of the way leaving the bullets to scatter and hit Shakkoumon.

"Watch it will ya?" Shakkoumon called angrily. A few seconds later however Shakkoumon yelled "Justice Beam!" sending a pair red orange beams toward Liam who was still moving away from Paildramon. The two beams missed by inches as Liam turned in mid air. He flung the sword from his left hand towards Shakkoumon. The sword hit him squarely in the chest, causing the monster to stumble and cry out in pain.

"Static Force!" A second later Liam was hit full force by Silphymon's attack. Liam spun in mid air clutching his side.

"Chains of the Underworld!" Liam yelled in retaliation holding his hand out towards Shakkoumon who was still recovering from the sword attack. Suddenly fiery chains were rising from the sand snaking around the massive digimon.

"No Shakkoumon!" T.K. yelled angrily. A few seconds later there was a bang and Shakkoumon split back into Patamon and Armadillomon. T.K. and Cody rushed out to meet their fallen digimon.

"Are you alright?" Cody asked concerned.

"I need a snack..." Armadillomon replied sounding a little dazed.

"Whatever that guy is he's tough" Patamon squeaked as T.K. scooped him up.

"Ken, I think it's time they digivolved again!" Davis said angrily holding up his digivice.

"Right!" Ken said holding up his.

"Imperialdramon Fighter Mode!"

"Positron Laser"

"Static Force," Both of the digimon sent all the power they had towards Liam who soared upward out of the way as the two attacks hit the sand and exploded into a cloud of debris.

This gave the digimon the chance they needed to get the upper hand. Imperialdramon flew through the debris towards the spot were Liam had been moments before. Within a few moments the massive beast had subdued his opponent in a full nelson position. As the dust settled back down Imperialdramon yelled.

"Now hit him with everything you've got Silphymon!"

"Static Force," Silphymon sent a mirror image of itself towards Imperialdramon. The blast hit him Liam full on. Some of the blast scattered around Liam's body and hit Imperialdramon, causing the monster to roar in pain. The pair floated down loosing strength until they hit the ground. Imperialdramon still held onto Liam to ensure he couldn't attack again.

"Had enough?" Imperialdramon asked.

"Yeah I've had more than enough of that," Liam replied. Imperialdramon let him go and split back into Vmon and Wormmon. Liam lay in the sand breathing heavily. "I gotta give you guys credit you're every bit as strong as I've heard." Liam rolled onto his stomach and keeled up, leaning on his sword for support, as the others approached him.

"You wanna explain what the hell-" T.K. faltered as he noticed a series of markings on the back of Liam's left hand. "That's the crest of hope!" T.K. said disbelievingly.

"That one's gonna take some serious explaining." Liam said coughing slightly. "Though before any of that I should do this." Liam suddenly stood held up his left fist as a green light shown from it. The crest on his hand glowed bright and seemed to revitalize the digimon. "Is that better?"

"Yeah actually it is," Patamon said wiggling out of T.K.'s grip and fluttering around.

"I feel much better now too," Wormmon said surprised.

"Well I'm glad... Sorry about all of that... But I had to make sure that you were strong enough to do the job at hand," Liam replied. He pulled down his hood to reveal a tangled mess of brown hair. He then pulled down his mask and took a deep breathe of fresh air before smiling at the group. "By the way you were right Davis this outfit is hotter than hell." This elicited a chuckle from the group as a whole. Without the hood and mask Liam seemed much friendlier.

"Well what's so big that you need our help with?" Ken asked. "Judging by that battle you're pretty powerful yourself."

"I am very powerful that is true... but the enemy at hand is one that I cannot fight... It is one that not even you six can handle alone." Liam said as a thin mist began to descend around them.

"What's going on?" Yolei asked looking around in a panic.

"We're just going to travel to another digital world to meet up with some others who will help us," Liam replied as the ground beneath them seemed to melt and all 13 began to free fall through a black hole of data. The next thing they knew they were all falling out of the sky towards a rocky canyon. Yolei and Davis began screaming like crazy. Davis attempted to flap his arms and fly to no avail. A several yards above the ground the group began to decelerate before they landed on the ground rather gentle.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US?" Yolei asked angrily "AND WHERE THE HELL ARE WE ANYWAY?"

"Another digital world... Well another layer of the digital world to be exact." Liam replied chuckling at the mixture of terror and anger on Yolei's face.

"Another layer?" T.K. said surprised.

"Yes there are in fact seven layers to the digital world... The one you have been exploring most of your life is the seventh. It is the highest, the most advanced and the most densely populated." Liam explains, ignoring Yolei's continued death glares. The lowest of the layers is a sort of purgatory. Where digimon are sealed away when they can not be controlled. The one above that is the one where the digimon Sovereign reside and rule over the other layers. The one above that is a barren wasteland where the only law is survival of the fittest. Above that the layers get continuously less primitive until you reach the top layer where we just came from."

"So all this time and we still haven't explored even a fraction of the digital world?" Ken asked disbelievingly.

"I'm afraid not... Normally the worlds exist autonomously and only the Sovereign myself and one other are permitted to move between the layers" Liam replied.

"This is incredible," Cody said awestruck looking around.

"You said we were meeting some allies here?" Kari asked looking around. "Where are they... and are they like you?"

"One of them is like me... Other than that there will be at least four humans and four digimon," Liam replied looking around. "They should be here sometime soon... She's so bad at warping between the dimensions." he muttered chuckling to himself.

"Who are these other people?" Davis asked.

"Before I answer that you have to answer one of my questions... Have you ever considered that there might be other worlds... Other human inhabited worlds?" Liam asked turning to face the group.

"No," Ken said glancing at the group. "I mean there's our world... and the digital one... then there's that dark ocean and that weird dream dimension... Are you saying there are other _real _worlds?" Ken asked astonished.

"There are many of them... But binary code which is the basis for all digital data is the same in all of them... Ones and zeros... So they all link to the digital world... They simply link to different layers." Liam said smiling at the look of sheer confusion on the teen's faces.

"So these other people... they're from another world?" T.K. said still struggling to accept this. True it wasn't anymore farfetched than anything else they had been through, but the idea of countless other earths existing without knowledge of one another was quite amazing.

"Yes you won't know them... They will know you though," Liam said his smile growing wider. "Actually come to think of it... Ken do you remember Ryo?"

"Huh wha Ryo" Ken stuttered. "I remember traveling with him for a couple of months the first time I came to the digital world but... you're saying he was... but how?" Ken stammered. "I thought you said only you-".

"When Apocalymon appeared the barriers between the layers were weakened. Ryo was able to slip through one of the portals created and meet you before the original digidestined destroyed Apocalymon and restored the balance of the world." Liam replied to Ken's stammers. At that moment Exer arrived with the tamers. The digidestined looked on as the tamers climbed over the hill and their jaws dropped.

"Ah you're here," Liam said in greeting as the group walked up.

"Sorry... We had to walk a little further then I intended when we crossed dimensions" Exer said cheerfully glancing at her companions. "I see you guys recognize the 'others' now."

"Oh," Liam said stepping aside to reveal the group as a whole. "Takato, Rika, Henry, Ryo, Kazu allow me to introduce you to Davis, Kari, T.K., Yolei, Cody, and last but not least Ken," Liam pointed at each of them as he said their names. "I think you guys will know them as the digidestined... and me? My name is Liam."


	3. The Protectors

_**Disclaimer: I don't own digimon or any other copyrighted material that may appear in this story.**_

**Worlds Apart**

**Chapter 3: The Protectors**

The Tamers stood with their mouths hanging open staring at their childhood hero's. Saying the moment was surreal would have been an understatement. The five looked at some of the largest icons of their childhood and noted the changes in them. The Digidestined looked to be about the same age as them. They looked very similar to how they had in the television series. In fact the only noticeable change in Yolei or Codey was the fact that they were each significantly taller. T.K. looked mostly the same, he was taller now and his hair was long but those were the only differences. Kari was the same except her hair was down to the center of her back. Ken and Davis appeared to have changed the most in appearance. Ken in addition to being taller was now much more broad in the shoulders. Davis' main change was his hair, his once wild spiky hair style had been replaced with a short cropped buzz cut. Though he still wore the pilot goggles Tai had given him.

The one to break the awkward moment was Ken. Ken didn't even bother looking at the other Tamers, instead focusing solely on Ryo. Ken stepped out from the group and walked over to Ryo who was standing on the far end of the group closest to Exer. He walked slowly as if any sudden movement would break the spell, and his long lost friend would disappear. After a moment he reached Ryo who simple starred at him puzzled.

"Ryo-" Ken said, his voice had a slightly dream like quality to it. "Is it really you? It's me... It's Ken... Do you remember?" Ryo' eyes widened in shock. It had been 8 long years since he had last seen Ken. Needless to say they both looked very different.

"KEN!" Ryo yelled drawing the dark haired boy into a hug. "I thought I'd never... I never dreamed you were actually him!" Ryo said patting his friend on the back.

"Wait wait wait" Rika said agitatedly "you're telling me that YOU knew that they were real this entire time and didn't mention it to any of us?"

"I just figured Ken was from our world and that the name in the television show was a coincidence." Ryo replied after he and Ken had broken apart.

"TV show?" Davis asked curiously.

"How are we supposed to know you guys are real anyway?" Rika asked looking across at the Digidestined who had moved closer once the tension had been broken.

"What do you mean are we real?" Yolei asked heatedly. "What if it's YOU that isn't real! How are we suppose to know this isn't a set up?" Yolei finished glancing at Liam. Within a second the tension between the two groups reappeared only this time punctuated by the movements of the digimon into a fighting stance between the two the groups.

"Stop this!" Liam said in a very threatening tone as the digimon looked to their partners for instructions.

"Guy's no!" Ken yelled jumping between the two lines of digimon. The Digidestined looked at a Ken for a second and then they took a step backwards. The Tamers and their digimon kept in a fighting stance.

"I understand this is all hard to take in but if you'll just calm down we can explain" Exer said. Rika glanced sideways at her. "You're just going to have to trust me." The Tamers reluctantly stepped out from behind their digimon.

"So go ahead and explain" Rika said still eying the opposing group with apprehension. Liam explained to the group at large how the layers of the digital world linked to different realities and that under normal circumstances the only ones aware of the other realities were the sovereign and themselves.

"So..." Takato began as Liam finished his explanation. "I guess the different realities makes sense and all but... How can they be real?" Takato asked pointed towards the digidestined. "I mean... they're cartoon characters."

"Who you calling a cartoon?" Davis asked. Liam ignored him and turned his gaze on Takato.

"Sorry man I don't have all the answers... My best guess is that the writer from your world had a psychic link to theirs and interpreted his mind seeing the events of their battles as imagination" Liam replied shrugging. "That could be completely wrong, but it's the best answer I've got."

"Wait a minute... In their universe we're a TV show?" Kari asked in an awe struck voice.

"Yeah and digimon are a card game!" Takato replied excitedly.

"This is unreal" Cody said walking forward. He stuck out his hand to Takato. "I guess you know all of us then... but what's your name?" Cody asked politely as Takato shook his hand.

"I'm Takato"

"My name is Kazu"

"You already heard my name is Ryo!"

"Rika" she said in a somewhat cold voice, waiving her hand slightly at the group. She still wasn't sure what to make of this.

"Nice to meet all of you... But Ryo why didn't you ever mention this to us?" Takato asked remember Rika' unanswered question.

"I just never got around to recounting that adventure to you guys... and I had no idea I was in a different digital layer or that the Ken I met was the same one from the TV series... I mean I always figured it was just a funny coincidence and that Ken just lived somewhere far away."

"I guess I believe that" Rika said turning to face Exer and Liam. "Now that we've solved the mystery of how we're talking to our favorite TV characters... just what in the hell are you two?" Rika asked pointing a finger them.

"Thankfully that answer is a bit simpler" Liam replied smiling.

"We used to be regular humans like any of you. Then we were chosen by the sovereign and had our DNA fused with digital data to give us the powers of a digimon without the need to Biomerge like you do." Exer said looking at Rika.

"What's Biomerge?" Gatomon asked.

"It's when a human and digimon digivolve together to form a digimon of mega level... Sort of like DNA digivolving with a human" Ryo replied.

"That's pretty much it" Liam added. "Anyway Exer and I are the protectors of the digital world. I am known as the 'Guardian of Hope'" Liam finished holding up his left arm to show the markings on the back of his hand forming the crest of hope.

"And I'm the 'Angel of Light'" Exer added holding up her right arm to show a series of markings that formed the crest of light on her hand.

"Was that the crest of light we saw stitched into your cloak?" Takato asked suddenly remember the symbol.

"It was" Exer replied smiling widely at him.

"I thought Gatomon was the Angel of Light when she digivolved into Angewomon?" Kari asked looking down at Gatomon who was standing by her feet.

"Since you are the bearer of the crest of light when Gatomon digivolves she not only draws power from you but also from me... So I guess you might say we are both 'Angels of Light'" Exer replied.

"So I guess when I digivolve I get power from you and T.K. right?" Patamon asked.

"That is correct" Liam replied looking fondly at the small digimon. "It's our job to protect the digital world from any and all threats."

"Then where the hell were you when Malomyotismon was trying to destroy it or when-" Davis paused and glanced nervously at Ken.

"When I was taking over as the digimon emperor?" Ken asked in a somewhat harsh tone.

"Or when the D-Reaper was trying to destroy the digital world all together?" Rika asked.

"One question at a time!" Liam said trying not to laugh at their indignation.

"Here's a good one for you T.K." Exer replied a little smugly. "Who do you think it was who hid your crests for you to find? Or who told Piximon to help Tai overcome his fear to make Greymon digivolve?"

"And who do you think told Gennai that prophecy you used to activate the mega evolutions. We also made sure that Myotismons reinforcements never made it to the real world" Liam added. "And as for you" Liam said shifting his attention to the Tamers. "Who do you think chose you to be tamers and created the digital fields for you to obtain your D-Arcs, and for you to be united with your partners?" Liam paused for a moment before adding "we also opened the digital portal you used to come to the digital world AND assisted in fighting the D-Reaper from this side."

"So you see... We were always trying to help you... But we have to protect five of the seven layers to the digital world... We had to delegate some of it to you" Exer finished glancing around.

"So basically you've been our Deus Ex Machina this entire time?" Yolei asked. Liam and Exer both exploded with laughter.

"I've never thought about it that way but I suppose you're right Yolei" Exer said nearly crying with laughter.

"We've done a whole lot more for you behind the scenes but if we're gonna go into that then we're gonna be here for a really really long time" Liam said.

"Okay... I do have one question" Takato began.

"Just one" Ryo said massaging his temple. "I'm already getting a headache."

"You said that you 'chose' us to be Tamers... what did you mean? Does that mean that you created Guilmon?" Takato asked ignoring Ryo' interuption.

"No, I'm afraid Guilmon' creation is a phenomenon even we can't explain but I am the one who sent you your D-Arcs... I determined that you three had something special about you that would allow the digimon to bond with you and become stronger for it." Liam replied.

"So if you chose them then did you choose us?" Davis asked voicing the question the entire group was thinking.

"No... the destined and the tamers are completely different" Exer replied.

"How so?" Yolei asked.

"Tamers are chosen and with the exception of Takato are paired with a digimon so that the digimon may become strong through the bond with the human. It is similar to the bond you share with your digimon but it is not the same" Exer replied. "With the destined such as you your digimon were created specifically for you. That's why many of their personalities match so well with your own."

"The Digidestined are also chosen by the world... Not by us" Liam added. "The world calls forth digidestined when it perceives a great threat. An example would be the Dark Masters that caused the world to call the original Digidestined... You guys were chosen by the world to be fated hero's and act as a last line of defense... The Tamers were chosen by us based on the merits we saw within them... as a last line of defense" Liam admitted repressing a laugh.

"What about me and Kenta?" Kazu asked.

"You two and Suzie obtained your arcs and digimon in the digital world... It was a spontaneous occurrence based on your connection with the digimon." Exer replied.

"Well that explains a few things" Ryo replied. "But I still have one question-"

"What do you want from us?" Rika asked, beating Ryo to the punch.

"Yeah... I doubt you dragged us all this way just to introduce yourselves" T.K. added.

"We brought you here to ask for your help" Exer replied. Her smile vanished and was replaced by a very serious look. "It's going to take the combined powers of both your teams to defeat the enemy at hand."

"Which is?" Rika asked impatiently.

"The twelve beast of the Zodiac" Liam replied.

"You're a bit late... we beat the hell out of them when were thirteen... and they're call the Devas" Rika replied.

"The Devas are of no concern to us and in any case they would be no real threat... Wrong Zodiac Rika... Remember there are two of them" Exer replied calmly.

"The Greek Zodiac" Henry said in recognition.

"Very good Henry" Liam replied. "The Deva's were in fact Zhuqiaomon' second attempt to create a force of minions to serve him. His first attempt based on the Greek Zodiac was a group of twelve mega level digimon. However they were to powerful for even him to control. So the four sovereign sealed them away... Remember how I told you the lowest level of the digital world was a purgatory where the most powerful and evil of all digimon reside?"

"So are they more powerful than the sovereign themselves?" Renamon asked.

"We aren't sure" Exer replied. "This happened hundreds of years ago long before Liam and I became the the protectors."

"Either way... Recently the seals the sovereign placed on them have began to fail and it's only a matter of time before one of the evil ones break's their seal and starts wreaking havoc on this and eventually your home worlds" Liam said.

"What do you mean the evil ones?" Terriermon asked.

"All creatures are born benign. It is apparent from what we have discovered that several of the beasts wished to rule the digital world... but to do that they first had to get rid of the Sovereign. However it doesn't say they all wished to fight. I think maybe the Sovereign sealed all of them just to... be safe" Liam replied with a tone that suggested he didn't entirely agree wit the Sovereigns decision.

"And let me guess the Sovereign don't want to get involved so they sent you to get us to do the dirty work for them?" Rika asked. Liam and Exer smiled.

"The Sovereign aren't even aware that the beasts have awakened... You are here because Liam and I cannot defeat these enemies on our own... So what do you say... Are all of you up to save the digital world one more time?" Exer replied.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Davis asked in a mocking tone "of coarse we'll help! Right?" He looked over his shoulder and group nodded.

"What do you think?" Takato asked looking at Rika. "You all think we've got another good fight in us?" he asked scanning his group.

"I guess it's about time we faught someone who could give us a real challenge again!" Ryo replied excitedly punching the air.

"What are you talking about? We took down the D-Reaper... compared to that this should be a walk in the park!" Rika replied sounding slightly happy for the first time since they had met Exer. "Besides... we'd be idiots to miss a chance to hang out with them" Rika muttered jerking her head towards the group of digidestined.

"So where are these Zodiac beasts?" T.K. asked as the groups moved closer together. Liam chuckled a little bit and the crest on his hand began to glow.

"Follow me!" he said in a would be cool voice as a field of digital mist surrounded them and the entire group plummeted into darkness to the sounds of Terriermon shouting.

"NOT THIS AGAIN!"


	4. Krios

Disclaimer: not mine... at all

**_A/N: i apologize to anyone who has this on alert. I noticed when i was reading this that at some point my spell check must have stopped working because there was a ton of spelling errors so i pulled the chapter down to fix them. I also reworded a few things but if you have already read this chapter there is no need to read it again. _  
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**Worlds Apart**

Chapter 4: Krios

The group plunged once more through darkness to the sounds of shouting from Yolei, Davis and Terriermon. This time the group came out of the abyss to a rather abrupt landing. Instead of falling out of the sky as they had before the group appeared mere inches above the ground, the group touched down rather softly as they all tried to catch their breath.

They appeared to have landed in the center of a large mountain range. The area around them consisted of towering mountains capped with snow and littered with tall trees. They seemed to have landed in a valley at the base of four mountains. The valley in contrast to the green mountain sides was barren and devoid of life, plant or otherwise. The sky was cloudy and murky gray.

"Why didn't we come falling out of the sky that time?" Terriermon asked to no one in particular.

"That's the way we normally move between the layers of the world... We just did the sky thing because... Well we have a taste for the theatrics." Exer replied smiling at the look of anger that spread across many of their faces.

"So you were just screwing with us?" Davis asked indignantly. "You've got a pretty shitty way of asking for help."

"Well you're free to leave any time... for any of you that still wish to fight the gate to Kriosmon' dimension is right over there." Liam replied. The group turned to see a stone gate that must have been at least twenty feet tall. It was emblazoned all over with odd looking markings. Near the top however the markings seemed to form a word. "Aries... The Ram." Liam added as the group examined the symbols.

"How are we supposed to get in?" T.K. asked.

"I can open the gate for you" Exer replied walking forward and holding up her staff.

"For us?" Ryo said suspiciously "so I take it we shouldn't count on any help from you two?"

"We do not belong there" Liam replied in an ominous tone.

"You care to elaborate?" T.K. asked aggressively "you're asking us to risk our lives and you aren't even going to help us?"

"We are currently on the third level of the digital world. This gate will bypass the level of the Sovereign and take you to the section of the lowest level where Kriosmon resides... It is an ancient law that the Angel and Guardian are forbidden to set foot on the two lowest levels of the digital world without the permission of the Sovereign. Breaking this law could upset the balance of power" Liam replied calmly, folding his arms. "In the past guardians and angels have been corrupted by power and brought great destruction to this and many other worlds. The secrets of the powers they used are hidden in the lowest layers of this world, where we must never go."

"What if we brought Kriosmon out here?" Kari asked.

"We would be able to help you but he is much stronger here in this part of the digital world. The section he resides in now is designed to dampen his power so purposely bringing him out here would be foolish" Exer replied.

"What do you guys think we need their help so bad for anyway?" Rika asked smugly. "Each of us has saved the world a time or two, I think we can handle this guy."

"I like your zeal kid... but don't underestimate Kriosmon. He was sealed away for a reason." Liam said looking at Rika intently.

"Yeah yeah I get it. Open the gate, lets get ready" Rika replied taking charge.

"Okay" Exer replied turning towards the gate. She aimed her staff at the top most point of the gateway were a small circle was etched into the stone. A beam of light shot from the end of her staff and hit the circle. A moment later the doors began to open, revealing a mirror image of the mountain range they were standing in. At the same time the entire group activated their respective evolutions. Once all seven Digimon were ready Exer stepped aside to allow them entrance into the gate.

"We'll be here in case he breaks through" Exer said as the group walked towards the gate.

"Good luck" Liam called as the group disappeared into the gate.

"You sure this is gonna work?" Exer asked walking up to Liam.

"Bit late for questions like that isn't it Ex?" Liam replied laughing as the combined group of destined children and tamers appeared in the gate way that was acting as a sort of window to the other world. Liam reached into his coat and pulled out a steel flask. He twisted off the top and took a sip as he sat down on a large rock. "Now all we can do is see if these kids are really as tough we think they are."

"I guess you're right" Exer said sitting down next to him. "Hey give me a sip of that will ya?"

"Do you even know what it is?" Liam asked passing her the flask.

"Knowing you it's something strong" Exer replied tipping it to her lips and feeling a slight burn as the liquid went down. She coughed slightly and said "and after what we just set in motion I could really use a stiff drink."

On the other side of the gate the group of Digimon and children appeared in a almost identical mountain range. In fact the only difference between the two dimensions was the sky. Here the sky was full of dark black clouds which constantly sent forks of lightning out in all directions.

"Well were is this thing?" Davis asked looking around. As if in response to his questions there was a loud crack as another fork of lighting struck the ground a hundred yards in front of them and behind it appeared a massive black figure. A second later a loud merciless laugh boomed out and seemed to echo all around them. The laugh was deep and cold, sending chills up their spines.

"I would like to thank you fools for finally breaking the wretched enchantments keeping me here" said a voice as the laughter faded away. "For century's I have waited for someone to mistakenly wander into my realm and free me so that I can exact my revenge on those who trapped me here." The black figure stepped forward revealing to itself. Kriosmon' image would not have been out of place in a book on satanic rituals. At nearly thirty feet tall he was equal in size to MegaGargomon. His fur was jet black and his hooves blood red. He had neither eyes nor horns in the traditional sense. Instead in the shape of horns were two torrents of red fire, and in place of his eyes were two white flaming coals. "Now that you have passed through the seal is broken... Unfortunately I cannot allow you to carry word of my newly found fortune to the Sovereign so you must be destroyed." With that the beast opened it's mount and sent a blast of read fire towards the entire group.

MegaGargomon knelt down in front of everyone taking the full force of the blast as the destined children ran for cover and the tamers spread out to encircle the monster.

"AAAAAHHHH" Henry screamed, feeling the lick of every flame as if a piece of hot iron were being pressed to his skin.

"Posotronlaser!" Imperieldramon yelled sending a blast of energy at the monster. With amazing speed for it's size the ram moved to the side dodging the energy blast. It then turned and launched itself at Imperieldramon catching him in mid air and bringing him to the ground. Kriosmon opened his mouth and drew in air to breathe fire again.

"Amethyst Wind!"

"Shield of the Just"

"Justice Beam"

The combined force of Sakuyamon, Gallantmon and Shakouamon' attacks sent Kriosmon flying into the side of the valley as a spray of red fire erupted from his mouth and covered much of the ground.

"Thanks!" Imperieldramon called as he stood up aiming his cannon towards Kriosmon.

"Charred Horn!" Kriosmon called sending flaming horns towards Sakuyamon, Gallantmon and Shakkoumon.

"Crystal Sphere!" Sakuyamon called forming a protective shield around herself. The horn hit and shattered the shield engulfing her in fire momentarily. Gallantmon and Shakkoumon were hit full force by the attack. Shakkoumon managed to absorb the attack through the opening in his chest. Gallantmon was not so lucky.

Gallantmon was sent hurtling back into the side of the valley and engulfed in fire as a black horn formed, pinning him to the wall. Justimon soared towards him as Gallantmon let out a high pitched scream.

"Voltage Blade!" Justimon yelled bringing his sword down on the black horn. The horn disintegrated and the fire disappeared. "You okay?"

"I think so... thanks" Gallantmon replied breathing heavily. "But we better end this soon before someone gets killed!" With that the two soared forward.

"Static Force!"

"Gargo Missles!"

"Amethyst Wind!"

The three digimon sent attacks toward Kriosmon as he emerged from the rubble. The enormous ram jumped high into the air as the three attacks smashed into the wall sending a cloud of dust out as blow back. Kriosmon landed in front of Imperieldramon.

"Posotron Laser!"

"Justice Burst!"

"Shield of the Just!"

The three attacks hit the beast head on. The resulting explosion sent all three of the digimon flying backwards to the sound of more deep booming laughter.

"I have to admit I'm slightly impressed" Kriosmon said in a slightly amused voice.

"We aren't even hurting him!" Rika said from within her blue sphere.

"We're never gonna beat him in a head on fight we need to come up with a new strategy" Silphymon replied.

"Maybe he has a week point" Rika said. "MegaGargomon, Shakkoumon can you hold him still so that I can get a look at him?"

"We can sure as hell try!" MegaGargomon replied flying forward and grabbing onto one of the rams flaming horns. Shakkoumon flew forward and grabbed the other one.

"Monstrare" Sakuyamon said holding her hand in the shape of a triangle pointed at the beast now jerking and thrashing. Sakuyamon' eyes glowed a bright blue as she soared over the Ram taking in every inch. "I don't see anything!" Rika said frustrated to Renamon. With that Sakuyamon turned and hurtled downard soaring between the rams legs as he grappled with the two digimon.

"Maybe we just need a different angle" Renamons cool voice replied. Suddenly she saw it. A spot in the middle of his stomache was glowing thanks to her spell.

"He's got a weak point on his underside!" Sakuyamon called as Kriosmon breathed a wave of fire which finally shook Imperieldramon and Shakkoumon off.

"I'll kill you miserable bitch!" Kriosmon called angrily sending another blast of fire towards Sakuyamon. She soared out of the way.

"If we can get him on his back then he's finished!" Justimon yelled. "Me and Silphymon will distract him, Imperieldramon you try to flip him." With that Silphymon and Justimon charged foward.

"Static Force!"

"Justice Barrage!"

The attacks hit Kriomon in the face however a second later a blast of fire hit Justimon and Silphymon sending them both backwards and breaking their evolutions.

"Gatomon!" Kari yelled as her and Yolei ran foward to where the four of them landed.

"Are you two alright?" Yolei asked Ryo in a panic as she picked up an unconcious Hawkmon.

"Still breathing... Barely" Ryo rasped as the others gathered around him.

Imperialdramon capitalized on his opportunity and charged Kriosmon. As expected he was met with a burst of fire. However Imperieldramon dropped to the ground on his back and skidded underneath him avoiding the fire.

"Posotron Laser!" The force of the megas attack was enough to send Kriosmon flying into the air. However the resulting explosion split Imperieldramon back into Vmon and Wormon.

"No!" Davis yelled as he and Ken sprinted towards them.

"This is our only chance hit him here!" Sakuyamon called landing on the week spot on Kriosmon' stomache.

"Justice Beam!"

"Gargo Missles!"

"Lightning Joust!"

The three Digimon poured all there remaining energy into the attacks as Sakuyamon flew upward casting a shield. The force of the attack caused an explosion that sent a cloud of dust into the air. Gallantmon landed next to Ken and Davis before collapsed and splitting back into Takato and Guilmon. MegaGargomon split back into Henry and Terriermon and Shakkoumon reverted back to Tokomon and Upamon. Sakuyamon was flung towards the group as her shield disolved and she split into Rika and Renamon.

Renamon twisted in mid air and pulled Rika close to her as she landed with her back on the ground. The pair rolled over several times and finally came to a stop with Rika resting on top of Renamon.

"God damn that hurt" Rika said weakly as she rolled off of Renamon. Her hair had been knocked out of it's usual style and there were several bleeding cuts across her back from the impact. "Is it over?"

"Rika!" Takato yelled sprinting towards her with Guilmon close behind. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'll be okay... thanks" Rika said as Takato offered his hand to help her up.

"I think we're the ones who should be thanking you." Takato said as he helped her to her feet. She seemed unsteady on her right leg so he moved under her right arm to try to support her.

"I can walk just fine!" Rika said pulling away and wincing at the pain in her right ankle.

"I was just-" At that moment the cloud of dust was finally settled to reveal Kriosmon who had gotten to his feet. At first he appeared to have been unharmed. But a slow trickle of data was escaping from his underside. His form had been broken, the first Zodiac beast had been defeated.

"I can't believe you pathetic beings defeated me." Kriosmon said looking at the battered group. "I suppose Liam was right. Humans are a lot stronger than we give them credit for."

"What do you mean?" Rika asked.

"There's no way you could have found me or gained access to this world without meeting that foolish boy." Kriosmon said as his data continued to scatter.

"I thought you had been here for centuries?" T.K. Asked confused. His question was met with another bout of laughter.

"He hasn't told you anything has he?" Kriosmon asked in an amused tone. "He's using you as his pawns... Clever boy... I wonder what he could be planning."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Cody asked angrily.

"I'm sure you will figure it out in time... Goodbye" Kriosmon said as the last of his data broke apart and scattered to the sky. A moment later the ground began to shake.

"This area is becoming unstable without Kriosmon here!" Renamon said as the group hurried towards the gate. Rika took a step but put to much weight on her bad ankle and fell.

"Rika" Takato said moving towards her to help, But in one swift movement Renamon picked her up and looked at Takato. "We have to hurry!" The group all sprinted towards the portal as the valley collapsed around them and the black clouds of the sky began to dissolve.

The all emerged back into the digital world just as the gate itself collapsed behind them. Most of the group had to carry their digimon in their arms. Renamon imediately set Rika down and collapsed panting.

"Renamon!" Rika said concerned.

"Is everyone still alive?" Liam asked as he and Exer ran up to them.

"What the hell kind of question is that?" Davis asked angrily.

"We just got the shit beaten out of us but yeah we're all alive no thanks to you two!" Ryo replied.

"Bruises we can deal with" Exer replied walking into the middle of the group and pulling her right hand out of her pocket. The crest on it began to glow and soon the light engulfed them all. The digimon all evolved back to their default forms. All the bruises and scrapes on the people seemed to heal over instantly. After a few seconds the light began to fade.

"Hey my ankle feels better" Rika said surprised standing up.

"My power can heal a lot of less serious wounds on humans... I'm sorry to say i don't have enough energy to return you all to full stregnth but i hope that helped" Exer replied looking around.

"Much better... thank you" Renamon replied standing up.

"Well I guess congratulations are in order" Liam said.

"Speaking of which" Rika said looking at Liam. "I thought you said all the stuff with these monsters happened hundreds of years ago... then Kriosmon mentioned you by name."

"There have been hundreds of guardians over the history of the digital world... and in any case Liam is not my real name."

"So who are you then?" Yolei asked.

"To you i am Liam... I adopted that name after i came here. My human name just didn't seem to fit anymore. In any case why are you worrying about that... You just defeated one of the most powerful digimon in existence... You should be celebrating!" Liam replied.

"Hey what time is it in our world by the way?" Takato asked noticing the sky had gotten considerable darker in this world.

"Both of your worlds are at the same point in time which is" Liam said pulling a large silver pocketwatch out of his coat "about 1AM or so."

"Oh shit" Takato said as he looked around and saw the same horrified looks on all the others faces. If it was passed one in the morning there parents would have all of their heads.

"Then we need to get home NOW!" Yolei said frantically "I was supposed to work a shift in the store... My Dad's gonna kill me."

"I could explain what you were doing if that would help" Liam replied jokingly.

"Pass" Yolei replied dejectedly.

"Before you leave get out your digivices... all of you." Exer said walking foward. She pulled a solid white D3 out of her coat pocket. Liam walked to the right of her and pulled out a half black, half white D-Arc. The Tamers and Destined complied and held out their repsective digivices. There was a bright flash as Exer explained. "Now your D-Arcs will be able to open portals to the digital world, and the D3's will be able to open them using digital fields like they do in the Tamers world. Also you will all be able to use them to communicate with each other through e-mail and move between the layers the layers without us."

"Awesome!" Takato said as he looked at the screen on his D-Arc.

"You should all get home... You did a great thing today... Hopefully it will be a little while before another seal begins to fail but we can't promise anythng... and you can also e-mail us if you need anything."

"Thank you" Ken replied. Ken looked down at his D3 and pressed one of the buttons. A field of data mist appeared around his group as they waived goodbye.

"We'll see you all again really soon!" Kari called to the tamers.

"See ya!" Takato called. He turned to see Henry fiddling with his D-Arc before a cloud of mist began to engulf them. The tamers vanished with nothing more than a waive to Exer and Liam. The two watched them disapear then turned and walked into another cloud of mist.

Exer and Liam appeared at the bottom of the steps to a large mansion. Without a word they climbed the steps and pushed the doors open to reveal a large ornate living room lit by a chandelier. Exer walked over and collapsed onto the leather sofa in the middle of the room. Liam meanwhile headed straight for the long wooden table that had many different colored bottles and glasses on top of it.

"Pour me one to would you please?" Exer asked.

"Red or white?" Liam asked.

"Red definitely" Exer replied. Liam poured some red wine into a long stemed glass. He picked up a circle glass before setting it back and simple grabbing the bottle of bourbon for himself. Liam handed Exer her glass before taking the seat opposite her. He pulled the stopper out of the bottle and took a long pull. "I still don't understand how you drink that crap straight like that."

"It's an acquired taste" Liam replied grinning.

"If you say so" Exer replied sipping her drink. "I can't believe they actually beat him without us having to step in."

"I'm surprised they all actually lived through it..." Liam replied.

"That's a bit cold... Even for you" Exer said looking into Liam' acid green eyes. "If i had known you thought that then-"

"I'm just being realistic" Liam said cutting her off. "You know as well as i do the more of them there are the more entertaining this is, but there's no guarantee everything will work out as well as it did today." Liam took another long pull from his bourbon.

"I suppose you're right... So how do you want to go after them next?" Exer asked swirling the wine around in her glass. "Attack them as a group again or start picking them off one by one?"

"We let them walk into the battle with a warning this time... I say we send the next one after them as a group and see how they react when they're surprised." Liam said leaning foward and setting his bottle down.

"Who should we send... Karkatamon?" Exer asked sitting up.

"No... Nedumon" Liam replied stretching.

"The Centaur... Good call" Exer replied taking another sip from her glass.

"I sure hope so" Liam said picking up bottle and taking another drink.

"Heres to hoping we haven't gotten those kids in over their heads" Exer said snickering holding her glass out.

"And may they live to fight another day" Liam replied pushing out his bottle to make contact with the glass. The two laughed as they drank to their toast, knowing that all of them were currently getting reamed out by their parents because they were late for curfew.

_**A/N: Now go and review! **_


	5. Twists and Turns

_Disclaimer: I don't own digimon_

**Worlds Apart**

Chapter 5: Twists and Turns

"Takato get down here!" Takato heard his mother from within his bedroom. It was clear by her tone that she had not forgotten his transgressions of the night before. Takato had managed to avoid punishment for being more than three hours late for curfew only because he had gotten his report card the day before and had improved several of his grades significantly. Takato finished pulling on his socks and ran down the stairs.

"What's up Mom?" Takato asked seeing his mother standing just inside the kitchen with the telephone in her hand.

"Mr. Yamaki wants to talk to you" his mother replied reaching him the telephone.

"Hello" Takato said wondering why Yamaki was calling him. Ever since the Tamers had been reunited with their Digimon Yamaki had kept in touch. In the early days he had often enlisted their help to deal with some of the more powerful Digimon that had emerged into the world. Lately the flow of Digimon had slowed considerable and Yamaki hadn't needed their help as often.

"Takato what happened yesterday?" Yamaki asked in a tone that was all business.

"It's good to hear from you too" Takato said grinning at the grumble of annoyance this elicited. "What do you mean what happened yesterday?"

"There was a huge energy signal in a vacant lot in south Shinjuku. Several eye witnesses said they saw you fighting some humanoid Digimon then you all disappeared!" Yamaki replied.

"Oh that... well you see" Takato began, scratching the back of his head. He didn't really want to recount the nights adventure to Yamaki over the phone.

"It's a long story right?" Yamaki asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Yeah it kinda-" Takato began when a thought struck him. "Is Shibumi there?"

"As if he ever leaves" Yamaki replied. "Why?"

"Could we come in and talk to the two of you in person?" Takato asked.

"I don't see why not... Call the others and get here quick." Yamaki said. There was a click and the line went dead. Takato set the phone back in it's cradle and turned around to find his mother staring at him.

"You're going out I take it?" she asked empirically.

"Yeah... Yamaki wants to know about the incident yesterday" Takato replied.

"Alright but remember what we talked about last night" his mother said warningly. "If you're late again, Digimon related or not you're grounded for a week."

"I understand Mom" Takato replied, walking by her and heading up the stairs. "I'm on a government task force that helps defend the city and I can't stay out passed eleven" Takato thought, shaking his head. Takato went into his room. He retrieved his digivice, wallet, keys and cell phone from his desk. Deciding he would just call the others on his way he headed downstairs grabbing his coat from the closet and yelling to his parents that he was leaving and stepped outside dialing Henry' number.

"Hey Takato" Henry said sounding sleepy.

"Dude it's noon how are you still asleep?" Takato asked laughing.

"My parents gave me a three hour lecture when I got home last night" Henry said chuckling.

"That sucks... Can you meet me at Hypnos?" Takato asked.

"I don't think I have anything else to do... Why?" Henry asked.

"Yamaki wants to know what happened yesterday" Takato replied hearing his friend groan.

"That's gonna be a fun story" Henry said.

"I also wanna ask Shibumi about Exer and Liam... He's studying the Digital World so he might know something about them" Takato added.

"Good call" Henry said. "Well I'm gonna get off here and get dressed. I'll meet you in front of the Hypnos building in, say forty five minutes or so?"

"Okay I'll see you there" Takato replied pressing end as he turned into the park to collect Guilmon before heading towards Hypnos. He dialed Rika' number and put the phone to his ear.

"Hello" Rika' voice came through the phone.

"Hey Rika what are you doing?" Takato asked.

"Cleaning my room. Whats it to you?" Rika asked in her usual snarky tone.

"Can you meet me at Hypnos?" Tatkato asked. He paused before adding "Yamaki wants to know what happened yesterday and I wanna ask Shibumi if he knows anything about Liam or Exer." The line was silent for a second.

"Hm I'm impressed goggle head I hadn't even thought about asking Shibumi" Rika said happily. "I take it you don't trust those two either?"

"Not entirely" Takato replied as he approached Guilmon' shed. "So can you come?"

"Yeah I'll meet you there as soon as I can" Rika replied.

"Okay see you there" Takato said as he walked up the stairs.

"Bye" was the response he got before the line went dead.

"Guilmon" Takato called as he opened the gate.

"Hello Takatomon" Guilmon said sticking his head out of the hole he was digging. Takato had long since given up on trying to get Guilmon to stop adding a 'mon' to the end of his name.

"Hey boy are you ready to go?" Takato asked.

"Are we going back to the Digiworld?" Guilmon asked excitedly.

"Maybe later, right now we have to go see Yamaki and meet up with Rika and Henry." Takato said. They set off towards the large towers that held the government agency. It was a bright, cool fall day and the park was littered with families out enjoying the weather. Remembering he hadn't called Ryo, Takato pulled his phone out of his pocket again. The dial tone filled his ear before Ryo' voice mail picked up.

"Hey Ryo it's Takato, listen we're all going to Hypnos to fill in Yamaki and ask some questions. Meet us there if you can. Later" Takato said hurriedly hanging up the phone. As Takato approached the Hypnos building he could already see Henry standing next to the door with Terriermon standing on his head.

"Did you get a hold of the others?" Henry asked.

"Rika yes, Ryo no" Takato replied.

"Typical" Henry replied. A moment later there was a loud noise as a red motorcycle pulled close to them and parked in one of the spots along the side walk. Rika stood up and pulled her helmet off letting her long red hair fall down. She swung her leg off of her Kawasaki ninja and hung her helmet from the handle bar.

"See something you like boys?" Rika aksed smiling as Henry and Takato stared. She pulled her hair up into it's usual spiky style as Renamon appeared next to them. "Are we waiting on anyone?"

"Uh no lets go" Takato said feeling his face burn slightly as he turned away. "Oh and I think we should leave out the part about how we can open portals to the digital world on our own now... Do you guys agree?" Takato asked as they entered. The others nodded their agreement. The group walked in and showed their ID's to the man at the desk who buzzed them in. They took the elevator up to the top floor and headed to the corner office where Yamaki was sure to be. The three entered to see Yamaki sitting behing his desk with Shibumi sitting opposite him.

"Good you're here" Yamaki said.

"What did you want to ask me?" Shibumi asked staring at the children with a bemused look on his face.

"Not so fast Shibumi" Yamaki cut in before anyone could answer. "First off what was that crazy energy signal yesterday and what happened to you?" The three recounted the adventure of the previous day in great detail. Yamaki and Shibumi both sat with glazed looks as the three told them of the other dimensions and the separate parts of the digital world.

"That's simply amazing" Shibumi said in awe as the three ended the story with Liam and Exer sending them home. "There are entire other worlds out there that we know nothing about... Unbelievable" he finished leaning back and starring blankly at the ceiling.

"Mr. Shibumi" Takato said after a moment. "We were actually wondering if you knew anything about Exer or Liam... Since you've studied the digital world and all."

"Huh-" Shibumi said coming out of his thoughts. "No I don't think so" he replied scratching his chin and thinking hard. "I read a lot of books about the history of the digital world while I was there but I don't remember anything about a Guardian or an Angel... There was something about those Zodiac beasts... but that portion of the library contained mostly blank books oddly enough. All I could find was that the beasts were sealed away by two legendary digimon during a period of civil war within the digital world... All information about the context and events of the war seemed to have been erased or corrupted."

"Figures" Rika said.

"So these protectors you told us about... What do you make of them?" Yamaki asked.

"I don't trust them" Rika said flatly.

"I see" Yamaki said slowly. "Why?"

"I don't know... Just something about them is... Off" Rika replied.

"Well from what you said it's probably a good thing you destroyed that Kriosmon thing before it got loose... I'll alert the staff that energy signatures similar to the ones we saw yesterday are these people moving between dimensions.

"Okay" Henry replied. "We should go then."

"Oh if one of these people should come here again" Shibumi said as the three turned to leave. "You should ask them if they'd be willing to come and sit down with me. I'd love to talk to them about the history of the Digital World."

"Will do" Henry replied. They walked back down the hall to the elevator as Henry pulled out his D-Arc. He pressed a button and the screen that normally displayed a Digimon' data appeared with an e-mail on it.

"Henry, can you and the other Tamers meet us in our section of the Digital World today? Davis."

"Well what do you guys think?" Henry asked looking up at the other two.

"Why not?" Takato said excitedly.

"Sure" Rika said as the elevator landed on the bottom floor. They all walked outside and ducked into a nearby alley to activate the digital field. All six of them fell quickly through a black abyss and landed in a grassy field.

"Are we on the first layer?" Takato asked, looking around.

"Yeah and according to the signals from their digivices the others are this way" Henry replied pointed towards a large hill. The group climbed the hill in silence. They reached the top to find not only the six digidestined from the day before with their digimon, but also Tai, Matt, and Izzy with their digimon.

"Hello " Takato said as they approached.

"I didn't expect you guys to get here quite that fast" Davis said.

"We were already together taking care of some things so we just crossed dimensions when we were finished" Henry replied walking over to where Tai, Matt and Izzy stood. "I'm Henry by the way, nice to meet you."

"I'm Tai" Tai replied as the two shook hands. Takato and Rika followed in introducing themselves to the three older boys. "Davis was just telling us about meeting you yesterday, and about what happened."

"Where's Ryo and Kazu?" Ken asked.

"Ryo didn't answer his phone and Kazu is probably going to be grounded for a month as late as he got back last night" Takato replied as the group laughed. Davis went on to finish explaining how they had defeated Kriosmon.

"Well it's good you were able to destroy him before he hurt anybody" Matt said as Davis finished. "Still why are these seals supposedly failing now?"

"Could there have been some type of event on one of the other layers of the digital world?" Cody asked.

"I guess so but" Tai replied thinking. "It's just strange that we've never heard of these protectors or these Zodiac things and now all of a sudden they show up".

"What do you think Izzy?" Rika asked, noticing Izzy had a ponderous look on his face.

"Well..." Izzy said looking around. "I've been studying some of the glyphs in the temples we've found and a lot of them do make references to angels and guardians but according to those story's the last guardian and angel were created hundreds of years ago... And I haven't found anything about them being involved with the Zodiac."

"Do you think Gennai would know?" Kari asked.

"I say we find Liam or Exer and make them tell us the truth!" Davis said aggressively.

"We don't even know if they've lied to us yet Davis" T.K. interjected.

"Even if they are lying to us I don't think we could defeat either one of them... At least not easily" Renamon said in her usual somber voice. The group turned to look at her.

"We defeated them yesterday" Davis said flatly. "I don't know how you did against the girl but we kicked Liam' ass pretty good. Right guys?"

"We defeated Exter fairly handily Renamon" Henry said. "They're tough but not invincible."

"You don't understand" Renamon said shaking her head. "I can't speak for Exer but I've seen Liam fight once before. Not only is he exceptionally powerful, he is ruthless and cunning. I don't know with what regard he holds human life, but I saw him slaughter dozens of digimon." The group looked to each other in shock at this statement. "I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to tell you yesterday, but everything happened so fast... It was shortly before I found the portal to meet you Rika." Renamon began as she closed her eyes remembering something that seemed to have happened a life time ago.

_Renamon was laying on the edge of a cliff overlooking a small village. She had been on the move most of the day and had stopped to rest for the night. She stared blankly up at the full moon as the sounds of distant battles and running digimon surrounded her. This didn't bother her, this was the way things always were. The battles were never ending, and peace was a luxury they seldom had here. Survival of the fittest was the only law they knew. _

_ In the canyon below was a small village. Inhabited by mostly rookie and a few champion level digimon who had made a valiant attempt at living outside of the battle ground. The inhabitants seldom ventured outside of their domain and did their best to insulate them selves from the violence that engulfed so much of the land around them. _

_ Suddenly Renamon heard the roar of a nearby digimon. Renamon jumped to her feet and looked around. Judging by the sound the digimon had to be enormous. Renamon looked over the edge of the cliff to see a herd of fifteen DarkTyrannomon__facing off with a heard of at least twenty MegaKabuterimon. They were just a few hundred yards from the edge of the village where Renamon knew the occupants had taken shelter below ground to avoid being caught in the up coming battle. _

_ After a few moments the DarkTyrannomon opened their mouths and sent a solid wave of fire at the MegaKabuterimon, scorching the ground between the two groups. The insect digimon flew up to avoid the blast and closed distance between the two groups quickly, as the DarkTyrannomon sent scattered blasts of fire towards them. As the insects drew close they began unleashing lightning in all directions. In less then a minute what had been a stand off had become an all out battle to the death. With lightning and fire shooting in all directions, scorching the ground and destroying the small buildings the villagers had built. _

_ Renamon looked on in horror as the battle raged. She wasn't strong enough to fight them, so she decided to leave before any of them spotted her. However she turned to find ten DarkTyrannomon marching towards the edge of the cliff where she was. They were probably planning a surprise attack on the MegaKabuterimon from above, which would render their flight useless. Renamon jumped to the side as one of the DarkTyrannomon lunged towards her. She landed on his head and jumped between two more of the beasts. Another one sent fire at her. Renamon back flipped, avoiding it by inches. A moment later however she felt a large claw close around her, trapping her. She struggled to free herself but the beasts grip was too strong. It opened it's mouth and Renamon saw an orange glow as it prepared to breathe fire and absorb her data, but the blast of fire never came. _

_ A blast of fire came instead from the sky. It struck the DarkTyrannomon squarely in the back, it let out a blood curdling shriek as it's body dissolved and it's data scattered. The other DarkTyrannomon began to roar and look to the sky for what had killed their ally. A moment later a man in a black hooded trench coat wielding two silver swords soared out of the sky directly into the heart of the group of DarkTyrannomon. Renamon watched as the man drove one of his swords directly into the chest of one of the DarkTyrannomon. A second later he flipped into the sky and landed on the head of another driving the same sword between it's eyes. The man propelled himself off of the dying beast and flung his swords into the air. A moment later with a snap of each of his fingers he sent two beams of fire into the group of DarkTyrannomon, obliterating three of them. _

_ Renamon watched as the man brought down the hoard of beasts. She was so engrossed in the spectacle that she didn't hear the DarkTyrannomon walking up behind her. The next thing she knew she was starring up at the underside of it's foot as it was about crush her. The man soared in front of her and caught the beast by the heel __as it slammed down. The man dug in his feet holding it at bay. He had put his arms through the finger guards on his swords so they were hanging on his wrists as he held up the monster. The man shook his head causing his hood to shift. Renamon could see very little of the mans face except for his bright acid green eyes. _

_ "Hurry... Get away!" the man yelled. Renamon rolled over and stood up as the beast applied all of its weight down and the mans knees buckled. The man managed to escape from under the DarkTyrannomon causing the monsters foot to smash down near the edge of the cliff. A large crack began shooting across the cliff. The man shot another blast of fire, destroying the DarkTyrannomon. _

_ Renamon scrambled trying to get off the cliff as it crumbled and large boulders began falling on the battlefield below. Renamon jumped and grabbed onto the side of the cliff as the ground crumbled away. In the chaos she was hit with a stray Horn Buster from one of the MegaKabuterimon. She dug in her claws as she slid down the cliff towards the still raging battle below. She saw the dark figure jump off the cliff and soar into the moon. A moment later a loud ringing voice cried out._

_ "Rain of swords!" A second later fragmented bolts of lighting began pouring out of the sky striking down the still battling digimon below. Renamon managed to climb back up to the top of the cliff and look down. The lightning seemed to be spreading from digimon to digimon as they all one by one screamed and were vaporized. After the last of the digimon below had vanished Renamon rolled over and searched the sky for any sign of the man in black. She crawled over to the wall and propped herself up against it holding her side. A moment later she heard foot steps approaching. She tried to get up in case it was one of the DarkTyrannomon that had avoided the storm, but the pain was too great. _

_ A moment later a yellow light engulfed her and she felt her injuries healing themselves. Out from the shadows stepped the man __in black. She could see a glowing symbol on his hand but couldn't make out what it was. _

_ "Better?" The man asked as he dropped his arm to his side. Renamon could see both his swords in the belt under his coat. _

_ "Y-yes" Renamon replied nervously. _

_ "Good" the man said advancing on her. He held out his hand to help her up. She took it and stood up. The man reached up and pulled down his mask. "You're a Renamon right?" _

_ "Yes" Renamon replied. "Who are you?"_

_ "Well you might know me by Ignis or maybe as Guardian. But my name is Liam" the man replied. _

_ "I'm sorry... I don't believe we've met before" Renamon replied after attempting to figure out why she might know someone by either of those names. _

_ "No we haven't" Liam said smiling. "What are you doing here?"_

_ "I stopped to rest" Renamon said._

_"You're looking for a battle I take it?" Liam asked shrewdly._

_ "Of coarse, I want to get stronger!" Renamon said. "Everyone wants to get stronger!"_

_ "I don't" Liam replied calmly "I did what I did because if I hadn't that innocent village would have been destroyed... Or more of it would have been destroyed anyway"._

_ "Perhaps you have the luxury of not worrying about such things... __But I do not... I will become the strongest... and I will digivolve" __Renamon said._

_ "Hm you want to digivolve?" Liam asked._

_ "Of coarse I do!" Renamon retorted._

_ "I see... Well you know there is more to digivolution then fighting and data" Liam said calmly._

_ "What else could there be?" Renamon asked anxiously._

_ "I'm going to call it the human element" Liam replied. "But that's not what you want to hear... You're itching for a fight aren't you? Head west from here and you will find an area with many digimon of comparable strength to you... and well... Let's just say I think you will do well there." Liam finished as he pulled his mask back up and turned to leave._

_ "Wait what is the human element?" Renamon asked._

_ "Go as I have told you and you will find out for yourself. Goodbye Renamon, I'm certain our paths will cross again some day." With that he leapt off the cliff and soared off into the night sky._

"I went where he told me... And it wasn't long before I found my way to you Rika... After that I knew what he meant by the 'human element'. He meant that it would take more for me to digivolve then just endurance and victories, it would take my connection with you to give me my true power." Renamon finished as the group stared at her. They had all sat down around her as she told her story.

"So he killed all those poor digimon..." Kari said sounding horrified.

"He was trying to protect others" Henry said.

"At least he said he was" Renamon added.

"Did you believe him?" Tai asked.

"Yes" Renamon replied. "He went out of his way to save me twice... That also must have been when he chose me to be Rika' partner"

"Well if nothing else this proves that we aren't going to be beating any answers out of them" Izzy said looking at Davis.

"I still think-" Davis was cut off as a flaming arrow dug into the ground next to where they were sitting. The group jumped up and ran in all directions as the fire expanded and created a flaming ring. Takato wheeled around to see a half horse, half man figure standing on the top of a nearby hill holding a bow. "KEN!"

"Lets go Davis!" Ken shouted back as their digivices glowed and there digimon fused together to form Imperialdramon. Imperialdramon sent a blast of energy towards the centaur who jumped into the air and landed in the middle of the scattered group.

"Who the hell are you?" Takato roared as he biomerged with Guilmon to form Gallantmon.

"I am Nedumon of the Zodiac court!" The beast replied in a deep voice. He was enormous at least as big as Kriosmon, with the head and torso of a man, and the legs and body of a horse. The horse section of his body was covered with chestnut hair.

"He's one of the Zodiac?" Cody asked as he pulled out his digivice. A second later another flaming arrow dug into the ground at his feet and exploded. Cody went flying through the air as he felt his digivice leave his hand.

"No Cody!" T.K. yelled as Angemon soared over to catch him.

"He's out cold but he's still breathing" Angemon yelled as MegaGargomon charged Nedumon distracting him.

"Why are you doing this?" Henry asked as he grappled with the massive creature.

"Because I must!" Nedumon said and with enormous strength he picked up MegaGargomon and threw him in the direction of Imperialdramon.

"He doesn't have a weak point like Kriosmon did" Sakuyamon yelled as she finished soaring around the centaur taking in every inch. Nedumon turned and swung his bow in the direction of Sakuyamon. She flew out of the way as the bow connected with Silphymon by mistake. Silphymon was flung backwards into Gallantmon who caught her.

"Was Kriosmon this strong?" Tai asked as he hurried over to help T.K. with Cody. Angemon soared towards the battle sending a blast of holy light straight into Nedumon' chest, eliciting a yell from the large digimon.

"Yeah... but we had time to digivolve before we started the battle... We've got to find someway to get the upper hand... There's six of us and one of him!" T.K. said standing up.

Nedumon charged forward drawing a fiery arrow out of thin air as he pulled the string on his bow back. The arrow collided with Gallantmon who was still supporting Silphymon. They both spun to ground as a light engulfed them. They split back into their individual forms as they hit the ground. Sakuyamon siezed the opportunity and sent a blast of rose pedals into Nedumon' eyes. The centaur jumped back covering his eyes and howling in pain.

"NO GATOMON!" Kari yelled as she tried to run towards her.

"No it's too dangerous!" Tai yelled grabbing his sister by the arm.

"Let go!" Kari said trying to break free of Tai' grasp. "She needs my hel- ah" Kari tripped over an uneven place in the ground in her struggle to free herself.

"Are you alright?" Matt asked rushing over to help her up.

"Ah I just bent my knee in a weird way" Kari replied trying to limp off in the direction of Gatomon.

"THAT'S IT!" T.K. yelled.

"Huh?" Tai and Matt said looking bewildered as T.K. ran towards the battle.

"Angemon! Aim for his knees!" T.K. yelled. Just then Nedumon turned around and came running towards T.K.

"T.K. GET OUT OF HERE!" Angemon yelled, flying down to protect him. As Angemon soared between T.K. and Nedumon something remarkable happened. A white light engulfed Angemon and a moment later he became MagnaAngemon.

"How the?" T.K. asked looking confused.

"Just go!" MagnaAngemon said harshly. Nedumon recoiled at the sight of the bright light. He quickly recovered and shot a flaming arrow towards MagnaAngemon. Bringing his beam sword around in a circle MagnaAngemon created a portal that absorbed the arrow and blasted the energy back at Nedumon.

Without wasting any time MagnaAngemon flew forward and drove his sword straight through Nedumon' right knee. A moment later a loud yell of pain could be heard at the beast collapsed. Imperialdramon and MegaGargomon flew forward and grabbed him by the arms forcing down onto his knees. At the same time Sakuyamon swooped around and drove her staff through Nedumon' left knee. Nedumon let out another bone chilling scream.

"Mercy!" Nedumon gasped out after a moment.

"Huh" Sakuyamon said. She had soared out in front of him to attack again but the plead caught her off guard.

"I surrender... I do not wish to fight... I will give up my power if you let me live" Nedumon pleaded.

"What are you talking about?" MagnaAngemon asked. "You attacked us!"

"I didn't want to... I had to" Nedumon replied. A second later he began to glow. A moment later he had shrunk down and apparently devolved into a lower level of evolution. Imperialdramon and MegaGargomon followed suit. However Sakuyamon and MagnaAngemon were not convinced and held their forms. "The only way I could escape that prison was to kill all of you... She forced me too".

"She? Who's she?" Sakuyamon asked thinking she had a pretty good idea who 'she' was.

"The Angel of Light... Exer is what she calls herself." Nedumon replied. "She knew I did not wish to fight even before she sealed me away... I told her I did not want to fight you... I only wish to live in peace and travel the world."

"Then why did she seal you away?" Tai asked suspiciously.

"I'm not proud of what I did in that war... But... Wait they haven't told you anything about us have they?" Nedumon asked.

"Only that we needed to destroy you" Davis said.

"Oh children... That is true for several of my brothers... However I cannot tell you anymore." Nedumon said sounding worried.

"You're not exactly in a position to decide that" Sakuyamon said threateningly.

"Young lady" Nedumon said in a somewhat amused voice. "If I defy you there is a chance you will kill me. However if I defy the protectors. I know they will kill me... Are you really prepared to kill someone who surrendered and poses no threat?" The group was silent. They didn't have any problems with killing evil digimon, but Nedumon did not seem evil.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" MagnaAngemon asked.

"How else would I have escaped my prison... Only the protectors and the Sovereign can open those gates."

"They told us the seals are failing... Is it true?" Takato asked.

"I cannot speak for my brothers but mine was just as impenetrable as it always had been... Until Exer came to my world and told me that if I would fight you she would set me free... And if I did not that she would destroy me herself" Nedumon said.

"That's really angelic" Henry said sarcastically.

"Dear boy if you had seen some of the things I have seen her do... You would realize that a red trench coat would be much more appropriate" Nedumon said.

"Is there anything else you can tell us about them?" Ken asked.

"Stop... We don't want to do anything to put you in danger" Takato said.

"I can tell you that you should be wary of them... Overall they are a force for good and always have been. However they have a tendency to ignore the means with which they attain their end" Nedumon said warningly.

"You realize if we find out you're somewhere wreaking havoc in the digital world we will finish this?" Sakuyamon said in a threatening tone.

"I know it is your duty to protect the digital world... I have no intention of continuing the work of Heller or in reviving Zhuqiaomon'-" Nedumon broke off. "I'm sorry I can't say anymore... I owe you my life children... and should you ever need my strength I would be honored to fight a long side you" with that Nedumon turned and galloped off into the distance.

"I hope we didn't just make a mistake" Rika said as she separated from Renamon.

"I hope we haven't gotten in over our heads" T.K. added. "What does Zhuqiaomon have to do with this... and who's Heller?"

"We'll figure it out later" Yolei said checking her watch. "It's passed ten so better get going if we all wanna get home in time tonight... Besides our digimon need to rest" she added looking down at Poromon.

"She's right... I'll e-mail you and we can meet here tomorrow" Takato said addressing the destined children as a group.

"Alright, be safe" T.K. said as the Tamers disappeared into a field of digital mist.

The tamers reappeared in the same alley way they had departed from earlier. The sky was pitch black now and the road was lit with street lamps. The group stepped out and found the street almost deserted. Henry checked his watch.

"Whoa you two better get home" Henry said snickering. "My curfew isn't until mid-night but you guys only have thirty minutes".

"As if my mother pays any attention to when I come and go" Rika snapped.

"Oh crap if I'm late again my parents will kill me" Takato said slamming his face into his hand.

"Here" Rika said walking over to her motorcycle. She threw her helmet at Takato who caught it after it hit him squarely on the nose.

"Whats the big idea?" Takato asked.

"Here I'll give you a ride home, but you have to wear the helmet" Rika said turning the key and adjusting the headlights.

"What the- I can't ride on the back of- not... with a girl driving!" Takato spluttered. Rika looked half amused and half angry.

"Fine then! I was trying to be nice but if you'd rather get in trouble" Rika snapped.

"What about Guilmon?" Takato said. Guilmon had walked back to his shed on his own plenty of times, but never from across town like this.

"I'll take him... His place isn't that far out of the way" Henry said turning away. "See you two later" Henry said snickering as he walked away with Guilmon following him and Terriermon trotting a long side them.

"Ugh" Takato said pulling the helmet on. "Please don't tell anyone about this!" he pleaded.

"Yeah because I'm really anxious to tell the whole world how I let you cop a feel" Rika said starting the engine.

"I'd never-" Takato began blushing.

"Just shut up and hang on" Rika said aggressively. "and if you try it I'll kick your ass!" with that she shifted into first gear and took off. Takato was glad Rika had told him to hang on because while he had thought Rika might be a little reckless he had no idea what he was in for. She swerved in and out of traffic around cars and Takato was almost positive she was never within the speed limit. However this paid off when they reached his parents bakery with ten minutes to spare.

"You're a lunatic you know that?" Takato asked as he pulled off the helmet and savored the feeling of standing on solid ground again.

"You're a wimp you know that?" Rika retorted smirking. "You should see how I drive when I have my helmet on" she added as Takato handed her helmet back to her. She let her hair down and pulled the helmet on.

"Uh hey... Thanks" Takato' words were barely audible over the low hum of the engine. Rika turned her head and smiled at him.

"Just don't get used to it goggle head" Rika said before she shifted into gear and went tearing off down the street towards her house. Takato grinned before turning and going in to see his parents.

While the Tamers were heading home and the Destined Children were explaining where they had been all day another force was already at work. Nedumon had gotten as far away from the battle field as possible. Eventually he succumbed to the pain in his knees and decided to take refuge in a cave for the night. He sat alone in a dark cave listening to the sounds of rolling thunder and the rain lashing against the side of the mountain. He laid in the darkness, relishing the thought that he was free and he never had to return to that horrible prison of a dimension ever again. He was happy and was just beginning to wonder where he should go when something happened to interrupt his thoughts. A large fork of lighting struck down outside accompanied by a roar of thunder. The lightning illuminated a slim figure standing at the mouth of the cave. A split second later the cave was plunged once again into the darkness.

"It's you!" Nedumon said his voice cracking as he stood up. The figure moved closer to him.

"You knew I would be coming for you" Exer said illuminating the cave with her staff.

"I didn't tell them anything about either of you" Nedumon pleaded. "They were going to kill me".

"Which of them did you think were the strongest?" Exer asked unexpectedly.

"Uh well" Nedumon said take aback. He thought for a moment before saying "the one who partners with the Seraph is probably the most resourceful among them... Other than him the kitsune... She's probably the smartest and the strongest of them all".

"I see" Exer replied.

"Please... Please I never wanted to be part of any of this or what happened in-" Exer cut him off.

"I know you didn't... That's precisely why I'm going to let you live... But you are going to tell me exactly what you said to them so that I know how much they know" Exer added as her eyes flashed dangerously. "And I'll know if you're lying... So it would be in your best interests to tell the truth."

_**A/N: This is by far the longest chapter so far so please review it! I need to know what everyone thinks about how the plot is going so far. **_


	6. Trust

**Trust**

_**A/N: Sorry for the wait, the end of the semester was very busy. Hopefully I can write more often in the future. **_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own digimon or any other copy righted material that may appear in this fic. **_

The Digidestined dropped out of the digital field back into the spot in the real world they had departed from. They had landed in an alley adjacent to Matt' apartment building. Tai looked around making sure no one had seen them emerge, but the alleyway they had chosen was very dark. Matt checked his watch.

"It's about ten thirty right now... Do any of you have to be home before midnight?" Matt asked. The group gave a general response of 'no'. "Okay then lets go up to my place and figure out what in the hell we should do next." With that the group followed Matt up the stairs to the apartment he shared with his father. Upon entering the living room the group could hear a distinct sound of snoring from one of the bedrooms. Matt walked over and closed the door as the group settled itself into the couch and chairs that littered the area around the large TV set in the middle of the room.

"So what are we gonna do about this?" Cody asked as Matt walked over and leaned against the wall near the door.

"First we have to figure out who we can believe" Izzy said wisely.

"Well we sure as hell can't trust those so called 'Protectors'" Davis said angrily.

"Why?" Tai asked "because a digimon said they're evil in order to keep us from destroying him? Davis I don't trust these protectors but I don't think we can trust Nedumon entirely either."

"What about those tamer kids?" Yolei asked "if you ask me I don't think we can trust them... How do we know they aren't in league with the other two."

"How would they know we aren't in league with the other two?" Matt asked somewhat mockingly. Yolei glared at him as he continued. "Look those other kids were in just as much danger today as we were so I think we can give them the benefit of the doubt... These two mysterious shot callers on the other hand..." Matt trailed off folding his arms.

"The bottom line is we don't know if they're with us, against us, or neither." Izzy said.

"Well why don't we go find out!" Davis said punching his fist into his hand. "Anyone who would send those-" Davis broke off as everyone looked at him.

"Say you're right Davis" Izzy said seriously. "Say those two want us dead. Nedumon was powerful enough to hold off four megas, and two ultimates, and might I remind you that MagnaAngemon is as powerful as most megas." Izzy added looking over at Patamon, who was asleep in T.K.' arms. "If Nedumon was telling the truth then Exer was powerful enough to strong arm him into attacking us. That's without even mentioning what Renamon said about Liam' supposed power. We can't afford to be reckless here."

"Speaking of MagnaAngemon" Tai said looking over at T.K. "how did you get him to digivolve?"

"I... Don't know" T.K. said looking down at Patamon. "It just sort of happened."

"Could it have something to do with him having been exposed to Liam' energy?" Ken asked. "He did say Patamon draws power from him."

"It's possible" Izzy said. "I've been researching the crests lately. I was hoping I'd be able to make us new ones so that if something happened we wouldn't be totally reliant on you guys to take care of it. Each of the crests seems to convert raw emotion into a type of energy. However each crest converts to a different type of energy... Or so it seems" Izzy finished.

"What do you think Tai?" Kari asked. She had been silent so far, simply sitting on the couch rubbing Salamon behind the ears.

"I think it's time we got some straight answers." Tai said with a tone of finality. He rubbed his forehead and sighed before looking up. "Okay here's what we're going to do. Davis you get into contact with the tamers, tell them to meet us at the same spot in the digital world the day after tomorrow and bring all their friends that have digimon." Tai looked over at Davis who nodded his consent. "Yolei you reach out to Gennai and set up a meeting... I'm sure he'll know something about all of this... And Izzy... How close are you to creating one of those crests?"

"Uh well... I've got the design for the tags down right. I've been trying to write an algorithm to mimic the energy conversions... I'm probably two thirds of the way done..." Izzy said thinking.

"How soon could you have one made?" Tai asked.

"Well every crest converts differently so I could have the one I've been working on done within a day or two... Beyond that I'll have to do more research" Izzy replied.

"Is yours the crest you've been building?" Tai asked.

"No... the complexity of the algorithm seems to correlate directly to the virtue... Knowledge is one of the most complicated by far, so I started on yours first Tai" Izzy said leaning back in the arm chair. "You're also one of the best fighters of us original digidestined."

"That's awesome Izzy!" Tai said excitedly. "You know I didn't understand anything you said about how the virtues work right?"

"I figured as much... I'll grab some coffee on my way home and see if I can get yours done within a day or two... It would help speed things up if someone would go into the digital world and start gathering more information on the other crests for me." Izzy said looking at Cody who nodded.

"I'll call Joe tomorrow and see if he'll come with me." Cody said. 

"Okay call me tomorrow and I'll meet up with you and explain what you need to do."

"Good... Matt I want you to get in touch with Sora and Mimi and tell them what's going on" Tai said looking to the blond standing by the door. Matt gave a thumbs up to confirm his assignment. "T.K. and Ken... Why don't you two go and check out some of the other levels of the digital world. Maybe there are some answers there."

"Alright" Ken said looking to T.K.

"Everyone understand what they're supposed to do?" Tai asked, standing up. The room murmured yes as Tai looked at the clock. "Good because we've all got less than thirty minutes to get home so lets go. One by one they all stood and bid one another good bye as they departed for home.

The next morning brought with it a cold drizzle. The type of day when most people want to sleep in and be lazy. The digidestined had no such luxury. Most of them had to do work for their parents in addition to the jobs that Tai had given them the night before. Davis and Yolei managed to get the e-mail's sent before being pulled into their daily chores. Izzy's parents seemed to recognize that there was simply no point in attempting to pry him away from his endless coding and just left him to it. While T.K. and Ken were busy planning which areas they wanted to explore, Tai and Kari were being kept busy by their parents. Cody, Joe and Armadillomon however, had managed to get to Izzy's apartment.

"Hello Mrs. Izumi" Cody said politely as Izzy's mother opened the door.

"Hello Cody and... Joe right?" Mrs. Izumi replied struggling to remember Joe' name.

"Right, is Izzy home?" Joe asked chuckling.

"He is but I don't know that you'll get much out of him" Mrs. Izumi replied turning to allow them entrance into her home. The pair proceeded to Izzy's room where they found him sitting in the dark, head phones in, typing and muttering furiously to himself.

"Okay so if I make the variable constant and then search for a-" Izzy jumped at the change in lighting cracking his head on part of his desk by accident. Izzy turned to see his two friends entering the room and pulled out his headphones. "Oh it's just you... Sorry I get a little jumpy after five cups of coffee."

"It's okay... have you made any progress on the crests?" Joe asked looking at the computer screen. It was populated with a series of very complicated looking mathematical formulas.

"Well I had a massive break through about an hour ago... I'd say I'm pretty close to being done... Hopefully by the end of today... But anyway... You two ready to go back to the digital world?" Izzy asked.

"Well yeah but-" Cody began apprehensively. "How are we gonna figure out these glyphs without you?"

"Well luckily for you guys I thought it might eventually come to this" Izzy said in a satisfactory tone. "I designed a program that can decode all the glyphs I've been able to discover meanings for... Here" Izzy picked up his laptop bag and thrust it into Cody' arms. "It's all charged up and there's two extra batteries in there... and give me your digivices." The two handed their digivices to Izzy, who in turn hooked them up to his computer. "I'm downloading the coordinates of the two temples I want you two to explore". A moment later he handed the two their digivices back. "The program should be pretty self explanatory. Just hook up the web cam in the side pocket, start the program follow the instructions".

"Sounds easy enough" Joe said checking inside to make sure everything they would need was in the bag.

"The camera will record each of the symbols and start trying to decode them. Though it will record a lot faster then it will decode" Izzy said, sitting down in his computer chair. "Once you've recorded all the symbols in the first temple I marked, come back here. There might be some information in it I can use for this. I already contacted Gomamon and he said he'd meet the two of you at the entrance to the temple".

"Okay" Cody replied nodding his head. "We should head out then". Joe and Cody turned to leave but stopped when Izzy began to speak again.

"One more thing... Some of the temples I've explored have had traps in them so just watch your step." Izzy said turning back to his computer.

"Now he tells us" Joe muttered as he and Cody left the room. The two proceeded out of the building and ducked into the alley next to it. Cody transported them into the digital world through a shower of data mist. They landed in front of a large temple located int eh middle of a dense forest. Joe glanced around. The trees were lush and green, with leaves so thick they nearly blocked out all sun light. The temple reminded him of pictures he had seen of Machu Picchu, with rough stone architecture. It looked very old, Joe had only started to wonder how old it would be in their world when Gomamon jumped out of a tree and landed on his head.

"Hey Joe!" Gomamon said as Joe fell over backwards yelling.

"How many times do I have to tell you NOT TO DO THAT!" Joe said angrily, pushing him self up as Cody, Armadillomon and Gomamon roared with laughter. Joe snickered in spite of himself and motioned for them to enter the temple. As the group entered the temple a set of torches burst into life illuminating the long hallway. The walls and floor were made of gray stone bricks with a very high ceiling.

"Hmm... that's weird" Cody said looking at the walls. "On the outside the stones were roughly cut like they were done by amateurs. But in here it looks like stone masons made these." Cody ran his hand along the wall feeling the smooth stones and their nearly seamless placement.

"It's the digital world so there's no telling how this building was made Cody" Joe said snicker at Cody' sense of concrete logic, and remembering how Izzy had been during their first trip into the digital world.

"I supposed you're right" Cody replied as they emerged into a large room. The room was covered in glyphs from top to bottom, illuminated by a large chandelier with hundreds of candles hanging from the ceiling. In the center of the room was a circular pool with water in it. As they drew closer they could see in the center of the pool was a raised stone platform with three items on it. "Whats that?" Cody asked pointing at the item in the middle.

"I think that's called a Naginata... The other two things just look like broad swords" Joe answer. The center item resembled a large knife mounted on the end of a stick. The two broad swords were crossing in front of it. Hanging from the pedestal was a small sign which read "Aula of Infinitio". "And I have no idea what that means." Joe said after reading it out loud.

"Well lets see if the computer knows" Cody said setting the bag down and beginning to set up the equipment. Cody attached the camera to the top of the laptop and activated the program. The camera began to spin and record all of the symbols.

"Hey Cody" Joe said walking around the pool and spotting another doorway. "You watch the computer... Gomamon lets go see if there are any more rooms like this in here."

"Yeah I'll stay here" Cody confirmed watching the program intently.

Joe walked over and pulled the door open. As the two started down the hall torches ignited overhead just as the ones in the entrance had done.

"Which way?" Gomamon asked as they reached a three way fork in the road.

"Lets go this way and if we find anymore forks in the road we'll go back and wait for Cody so we don't get lost". Joe said pointing at the opening to the left. As they walked down the hall Joe noticed the torches seemed to be getting dimmer and dimmer. By the time they reached the room at the end of the hall the torches barely illuminated anything. Joe could barely see a small room with glyphs on the walls and ceiling. Joe stepped into the room cautiously, Gomamon behind him. He took a few steps squinting, before he tripped over something in the center of the room.

Joe fell face first onto the dirty stone floor as he felt his knee connect painfully with a small raised area in the center of the room. Joe placed his hand on the floor and attempted to push himself up. He felt the stone his hand was on sink further into the floor and his heart skipped a beat. He rolled over and jumped up ready for whatever trap was coming. A stone slab slid into place over the entrance, plunging them into complete darkness as Joe pulled out his D3. A moment later the room was illuminated by a dull blue light. Every symbol on the walls seemed to be glowing. Joe turned to look at the small circular platform he had tripped over. It was glowing but devoid of any visible glyphs. A moment later the light was blinding as the platform at the bottom sent a beam of blue light to ceiling to connect with another identical platform.

A moment later the light faded slightly as a figure appeared in the blue cylinder. It was a tall man, his head was covered mostly by a hood, and much of his face was obscured by a mask. Joe couldn't make out any distinguishing features because he seemed to be wrapped in a black cloak that reached to the floor. Joe stepped towards him as sound filled the room. It seemed to come from no where in particular. It was dull and echoing, yet somehow easy to understand.

"If you are watching this then I am most likely dead... Gennai, Ophanimon and any of my Generals that survived, I am sorry I could not trust you with my plan of last resort. It was out of sheer desperation that I did this. I wish it could have been done another way. If my plan has succeeded, Heller and the Zodiac will be sealed away, and the Sovereign will be united once again. However if I have failed there is but one option left. I conceived this plan many years ago, but it has proven impossible for Exer and I to enact. But if we have failed, perhaps the next protectors can find a way to use it. All the answers lay at the place where this all began one, zero, zero, one, one, seven, seven, one." The figure paused for a moment. "One more thing... Gennai... If you're watching this then... You must understand I had no other choice. This was for all the things we wanted, and all the things that still can be. I suppose I'll see you again... On the far side of eternity". With that the figure turned and vanished. The blue light gradually faded away and the stone blocking the door moved.

"What was that?" Gomamon asked in awe of what had just happened.

"Lets get Cody and show him this!" Joe said moving quickly towards the door. They ran back along the tunnels and emerged into the room where Cody was sitting staring at the laptop screen. "Cody you've gotta see this!" Joe panted as he ran up.

"First look at this" Cody said turning the laptop towards Joe. The screen appeared to be showing the glyphs in order and was replacing them with readable text as It translated them. Joe scanned the screen and spotted what he thought Cody was talking about.

"Seven demon lords... Crest of Darkness?" Joe said as he saw the two complete phrases.

"Right! It hasn't decrypted enough of it yet to know what this is about, but it definitely has to do with the crests". Cody said excitedly.

"That's awesome but we ne-" Joe was interrupted before he could finish.

"You guys there?" Izzy' voice came from the laptop as a window appeared showing him in his bedroom.

"Yeah Izzy you're not gonna believe what we found!" Cody said.

"There's no time for that! You two have to get back now!" Izzy said sounding panicked.

"What's wrong Izzy?" Joe asked sitting down next to Cody.

"A digimon just appeared in the bay!" Izzy said. The two gasped.

"But how?" Cody asked wide eyed.

"I have no idea but we need everyone here now!" Izzy said frantically. "Meet me in front of my building asap". With that izzy closed the connection. Joe and Cody stood shutting the laptop and grabbing their equipment. Cody pulled out his D3 and a cloud of data engulfed them.

They landed back in the same alley they had departed from earlier. Immediately the sounds of sirens and panic boomed from the direction of the bay. Cody and Joe ran out of the alley with Gomamon on and Armadillomon at their heels. A moment later Izzy came running out of the apartment building, pulling on a coat with Tentomon right behind him. There was a flash of white light and Tentomon digivolved to Kabuterimon.

"Climb on" the insect digimon commanded bending down so the five could climb onto his back.

"So who is this digimon that appeared?" Joe asked as they soared towards the bay, where small explosions and massive waves could be seen.

"I have no idea" Izzy replied. "All Tai said was it looked like a crab".

"Who else is there?" Cody asked.

"Tai, Kari, Ken, Davis, Matt, and T.K. were there when I talked to them" Izzy said as they drew close to their destination. Kabuterimon and his passengers failed to notice the two figures landing on the building adjacent to the shore as they landed on the beach.

"Think they can handle Karkatamon?" Exer asked as she watched Kabuterimon land.

"They've proven powerful and resourceful... They'll find a way" Liam replied walking up beside her and crossing his arms.

"What about the civilians?" Exer asked glancing side ways at him.

"Well most of them have been evacuated by the military... I expect Tai and his friends will attempt to save anyone who remained behind" Liam said.

"And the military personnel who foolishly try to fight him?"

"Acceptable losses?" Liam questioned jokingly.

"Not funny... not funny one bit!" Exer snapped angrily as Karkatamon emerged from the ocean grappling with Imperialdramon.

Kabuterimon swooped in sending a blast of electricity down toward the enormous crab. It hit his shell and was absorbed. Imperialdramon managed to push Karkatamon backwards off of the coast, sending a title wave out across the bay. Silphymon soared in firing energy bursts as fast she could, but they only seemed to bounce off of the monster shell.

As the battle raged on in the shallow sea Izzy, Cody and Joe sprinted along the deserted street looking for any sign of the others. After a few minutes of running a familiar large striped tiger came into view.

"You guys okay?" Matt asked as Garurumon stopped next to them and the group dismounted.

"Yeah what about you guys?" Izzy gasped clutching at a stitch in his chest.

"T.K. we should DNA digivolve!" Cody said looking at T.K. who was shaking his head.

"No Patamon's still to weak Cody, and Armadillomon doesn't look like he's in the best shape either." T.K. replied.

"We've run out of options T.K. " Tai said arriving with Agumon. "There isn't anyone left who can digivolve beyond champion and I don't think Silphymon and Imperialdramon are going to be enough".

"He doesn't need to send Patamon in" Izzy said straightening up and smiling at Tai. "I finished your crest about ten minutes before that thing appeared" Izzy added triumphantly, pulling the completed tag and crest from the inside of his coat.

"Izzy you're a genius!" Tai yelled, punching the air as Izzy lobbed the pendant at him.

"Alright I'll send WarGreymon in to help and hopefully that will be enough... But just in case all of you should get clear" Tai said to the group at large.

"We'll come just in case they still need some back up" Matt said looking at T.K.

"Okay" T.K. agreed. The group ran back down the coast close to where the battle was. Sand, water and debris flew in all directions as blasts of energy, electricity and what seemed to be ink flew from the combatants fingertips.

"You ready Agumon?" Tai asked as the group skidded to a halt several meters from the battle and Agumon jumped on the railing that kept people from falling off the street to the beach below.

"Born ready Tai!" Agumon said as he jumped into the air and Tai activated his Digivice and Crest. A white light engulfed Agumon as Tai held the pendant in his right hand and the Digivice in his left. The light began to expand to form WarGreymons shape but something bizarre was happening. The light was changing color.

"Ah!" Tai yelped as he dropped the tag and crest. "It burned me!" The group stared down at the object which was sending small jolts of electricity in all directions, the symbol within the crest had turned jet black. The light around Agumon had changed to reflect the color of the crest. "Agumon!" Tai yelled as the light faded to reveal BlackWarGreymon.

BlackWarGreymon let out a deafening roar as he soared upward gathering energy. A second later he sent a blast of black energy towards Karkatamon. Karkatamon dove under the water to avoid the blast which sent a huge wave out in all directions. BlackWarGreymon let out another yell and soared towards Imperialdramon.

"Agumon..." Tai gasped in disbelief. He couldn't believe it. His best friend didn't seem to be in there, replaced by some monster with an insatiable thirst for blood. Tai dropped to his knees and stared down at the crest and saw that a crack had appeared slanted through the symbol.

"What the hell happened?" Matt asked, rounding on Izzy.

"How should I know?" Izzy asked. "I know I didn't mess up the algorithm".

"Well something sure went wrong." T.K. said, watching BlackWarGreymon slash wildly at Imperialdramon.

"This is bad..." Cody said. "We should get out of here".

"We can't just leave Agumon!" Tai said abruptly, snatching up the broken crest. He stood up and dusted himself off. "I don't know what happened but there has to be some way to reverse I right?"

"Well I don't-" Izzy broke off closing his eye's, trying to concentrate.

"Look out!" Kari screamed as BlackWareGreymon flew towards them, his claw raised. The group scattered except for Tai, who stood resolutely in BlackWareGreymon's path.

"Agumon!" Tai yelled with the monster just feet from him. He closed his eye's waiting for the blow to connect, but all he felt was a rush of air as he heard metal collide with something hard. Tai opened one eye to see BlackWareGreymon pushing down with all of his might on one claw as a woman in a white cloak held him at bay.

"Hrrrrmffff" Exer grunted as she pushed BlackWareGreymon off of her. He skidded backwards, cracking the ground as he moved. BlackWareGreymon wasted no time as he lunged back at her. A moment later a figure in a black cloak landed between them, there was a flash of silver as BlackWareGreymon howled in pain and his left claw armor shattered as a spout of blood issued from a deep gash into his arm.

"Which one do you want?" Liam asked turning his head slightly towards Exer. "The psychotic on line one or the giant monster on line two?"

"I'll work on trying to purify him" Exer said pointing towards BlackWareGreymon who was holding his arm and looking at them with a blank expressionless look in his eye's.

"Got it! I'll take care of the crab" Liam replied kicking off from the ground and soaring towards the battle between Karkatamon and Imperialdramon that was still raging.

BlackWareGreymon charged forwards swinging his good arm. Exer jumped out of the way and his claw sank into the ground. There was a slight glow and ground exploded sending dirt and bits of concrete everywhere. Exer turned and swung her staff, sending a ring of white fire that encircled him. BlackWareGreymon struggled and Exer held of her hand and the crest began to glow.

"Don't hurt him!" Tai yelled running forward to were Exer stood. She glanced at him, dividing her concentration. A moment later BlackWareGreymon broke the ring of flames, sending out a blast wave. Exer tackled Tai to the ground as the wave flew over them. Tai felt Exer roll off of him as he saw BlackWareGreymon standing over him with his claw raised. A moment later he was blinded as Silphymon blasted BlackWareGreymon away from him.

"Liam told me to come help you" Silphymon said as Exer stood up.

"Try to keep him busy" Exer said, turning to face Silphymon. "I'll try to surprise him".

"I'll see what I can do" Silphymon said flying towards BlackWareGreymon.

"Tai" Exer said rounding on him. "You and your friends go and hide".

"Just please don't kill-" Tai broke off as Exer turned and darted away into the now semi darkness. The group did as Exer instructed. They ran a ways down the street, putting themselves in view of both battles. Imperialdramon and Liam seemed to have Karkatamon under control and were trying to push him out to sea. Silphymon on the other hand was getting all she could handle from the wounded BlackWareGreymon. Exer mean while was several yards away and didn't appear to be trying to help. Instead she seemed to be trying to draw something in ground with her staff.

"I don't think Silphymon can hold on very much longer..." Yolei said sounding worried as a Terra Destroyer missed hitting Silphymon by inches.

"T.K. I don't think we can afford to wait any longer" Patamon said fluttering out of T.K.'s arms and turning to look at him. "I can't just stand by while everyone else is fighting!"

"Um well... Okay you win" T.K. said reluctantly as everyone looked at him pleadingly. He held up his Digivice and a moment later Angemon stood before them. "Show him who's boss!" Angemon nodded and flew out of the alley towards the BlackWareGreymon. Angemon hit him squarely in the chest with a beam of holy energy, sending him backwards through a plate glass window into a nearby shop.

"You okay?" Angemon asked as Sikphymon got shakily to her feet.

"Yeah I-" Silphymon began as a black tornado spun out of the shop and hit her directly. She was engulfed in a white light and split back into Poromon and Salamon.

"No!" Yolei yelled trying to run out of the alley. Ken jumped forward and grabbed her.

"It's too dangerous!" Ken grasped as Yolei continued to struggle. A moment later there was a massive explosion in the direction of Karkatamon. The group turned to see a bolt of lightening hitting him from one side and a beam of energy from the other. When the light had faded Karkatamon was scattering into millions of pieces of data. The group could barely see Liam and Imperialdramon as they started to fly back towards them. Meanwhile Angemon was barely holding his own against BlackWareGreymon.

"There has to be something I can do..." T.K. said desperately. At that moment a thought struck him. "Well it worked once before... Angemon Digivolve!" T.K. yelled holding up his Digivice. A bright light radiated from both the Digivice and Angemon and a moment later MagnaAngemon was battling with BlackWareGreymon.

"This doesn't make any sense" Izzy said watching as MagnaAngemon delivered a well placed slash to BlackWareGreymon's chest plate. "He shouldn't be able to digivolve without a crest".

"I wouldn't complain if I were you" Matt said warningly as BlackWareGreymon charged MagnaAngemon slicing through two of his wings and drawing blood. However before anyone had time to react Imperialdramon plowed into BlackWareGreymon, sending him straight into a nearby building.

"You ready Ex?" Liam asked as he landed near Exer.

"Yeah... You know what to do!" Exer replied, drawing the last line across a crest of light in the middle of an ornate looking circle.

"No!" Tai yelled darting out of their hiding place. Matt tried to grab him but was too slow.

"Tai don't!" Kari screamed running after him.

"Oh to hell with it" Izzy said exasperatedly running after the two of them with the others at behind him. They saw BlackWareGreymon fly out of the rubble of the crumbling building. Liam struck out with his right sword and sent him into the air. Liam flew up and struck BlackWareGreymon as hard as he could in the center of the chest, forcing him back to the ground.

"He's gonna kill him!" Tai screamed as Liam landed and drove his swords into BlackWareGreymon's arms, pinning him and shattering the last of the armor that protected his arms. BlackWareGreymon began to scream and thrash wildly as the symbol around him began to glow. Liam propelled himself backwards out of the circle. Tai attempted to charge in but MagnaAngemon stopped him.

"There's nothing you can do Tai!" MagnaAngemon said. A moment later Imperialdramon landed in front of them and placed his arms around them, using his body as a shield. The light grew brighter and brighter until none of them could see anything except what was right in front of them. Amidst the BlackWareGreymon's screaming and Tai's frantic yelling there was a loud crack and rush of air as the light began to fade.

As the light faded Tai squinted trying to force his eyes to adjust. He could see a column of what looked like black smoke in the center of the circle where BlackWareGreymon had been. He then saw Liam moving in the direction of where Exer had to be on the other side of the smoke. Tai focused hard trying to force his eyes to pierce the smoke. After a few seconds it dissipated enough so that Tai could see a small white ball with long ears and closed eyes laying in the middle of the smoke unconscious.

"Koromon!" Tai yelled, ducking under Imperialdramon's arm and sprinting towards him. He reached the center of the symbol and scooped up the small Digimon. "Koromon wake up! Speak to me!".

"He's out cold" MagnaAngemon said looking at the small digimon with a worried expression.

"Let me see him Tai" Exer said weakly. Liam was helping support her as the two made their way towards them. It looked as though the spell had taken it's toll on her too. She was very pale and had a somewhat dazed look about her. The kind of look someone has when they've just been woken abruptly from a very long nap.

"No way!" Davis said aggressively rushing forward as Tai turned to shield Koromon from Exer and Liam.

"You're the ones who tried to kill him!" Tai added angrily.

"If we wanted to kill him... He'd be dead" Liam said, very coldly.

"Liam" Exer said in the kind of tone one usually hears used on a child who has spoken a swear word.

"Like we're gonna fall for that one" Davis said mockingly. "It's time we got some straight answers out of you two!"

"It's not like that Davis-" Exer began pushing Liam away and leaning on her staff for support. She took a step forward but Imperialdramon landed in front of her to halt her. A second later Imperialdramon was hit in the chest with a jet of black fire and split back into DemiVeemon and Minomon. Liam took two quick steps after casting the spell and MagnaAngemon met him. The two crossed swords before Exer swung her staff, causing the two to jump back. "Stop it both of you!" Exer almost screamed looking at Liam and MagnaAngemon. "This isn't helping".

"DemiVeemon are you okay?" Davis asked frantically.

"I thought it was a pass play coach I swear" DemiVeemon said in a confused voice.

"That was a cheap shot!" Davis said angrily.

"You wanna pick a fight you better be sure you can win!" Liam spat back. "We're trying to help you."

"You've nearly helped Koromon to death" Kari said still holding Salamon.

"I'm not the one screwing with the powers of darkness" Liam said in an abrupt return to his usual even tone.

"Wait... What do you mean the powers of darkness?" Matt asked.

"There's only three ways to corrupt a digivolution like that. One you force your partner to evolve in a fit of anger, which Tai has done once and I doubt is stupid enough to do again. Both the other ways involve either tapping the powers of darkness or trying to create a fake crest of virtue" Liam replied. Izzy squirmed uncomfortably. "Since I doubt any of you have access to what you'd need to tap the powers of darkness directly and given your behavior towards us, I'm assuming you or more likely Izzy tried to create a fake crest so that you could all digivolve and even up the scales of power. Am I right?"

"Yeah... Yeah that's about right" Izzy quietly, hanging his head in shame. "I thought I could replicate the effects of the original crests".

"Idiot kids... You can't fake a virtue like that... And if you try you end up with results like this" Liam said pointing towards Tai.

"It's my fault..." Tai muttered. "I should have known better".

"Yeah you should have... Don't compound one mistake with another... Let me check Koromon out Tai... We promise we're on your side" Exer said kindly. Tai still looked hesitant.

"Tai... I think we should trust them" Matt said causing everyone to turn and look at him. "Look you guys don't trust them and they obviously know that. But I'm pretty sure it would've been easier for them to just kill BlackWareGreymon so they're at least trying to help... Besides I don't really see how we have any other options". Tai hesitated again, but finally turned and handed Koromon over to Exer. She placed one of her hands on Koromon's head and closed her eyes. The crest on her hand and Koromon began to glow with a soft light. A moment later it faded.

"He's not in any immediate danger. He'll be out cold for a while, when he wakes up just make sure he takes it easy". Exer said handing Koromon back to Tai. "Is everyone else okay?" Exer asked, looking around.

"Yeah no one was seriously injured" Kari said.

"Good... Well you should all go home and get some rest" Exer said turning to leave.

"Wait a minute!" Davis interjected. "I think you two owe us an explanation. Everyone glanced nervously at Liam, but his expression seemed to soften a bit at the question.

"We do... But this is not the time or the place" Liam replied evenly. "Right now you all need to go and rest... I promise everything will be explained in time".

"How do you expect us to trust you?" Davis asked.

"I don't expect you to trust us... I only expect you to fight with us" Liam said, sounding disinterested. "If you'll excuse us, we have business to take care of". With that the two turned and were gone in a storm of mist.

"When are we meeting with Gennai?" Tai asked, looking at Yolei.

"I e-mailed him but he hasn't gotten back to me yet" Yolei responded.

"When he does, tell him we need to meet with him ASAP. We can't wait on the tamers". Tai said looking down at Koromon. "We can't afford to wait and find out what those two are planning either... But until Gennai contacts us we should all go home and get some rest". Tai finished looking around. The group nodded and started off on the journey home. While the destined children were making their way home the tamers were settling in to dinner with their families. Unbeknownst to them another plan had been set in motion.

"When will they be attacking?" Exer asked.

"Probably about midnight or so" Liam replied. They were currently looking down through the window into the Matsuki bakery where the family was sitting down to dinner.

"I'm still not sure using Mithunamon is such a good idea". Exer said.

"None of this is a good idea... But it sure is fun!" Liam said with a slight chuckle.

"You're seriously starting to scare me a little bit man" Exer replied laughing.

"I think I've figured out which one I want... You have a preference so far?" Liam asked.

"Yeah but I'm saying a thing until I see them in this battle". Exer replied.

"Fair enough" Liam replied checking his watch. "It's only 7 now so you go get some sleep... There really isn't anything to do until they arrive".

"Thanks... That spell really took it out of me" Exer said turning to walk away.

"Hey Ex?" Liam said turning to look at her. She turned slightly to look at him. "What have you been doing with the crests so far?"

"They're somewhere safe for now... We should probably figure that out after we've finished here" Exer replied.

"Okay... After this i'd say they've earned a bit of a break anyway" Liam said as Exer turned and vanished into the night. Liam stood a while longer starring down at the street, watching people walk by. Hoping that tamers were as tough as he thought they were.


	7. Two Faces

_**A/N: Sorry for the wait.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any other copy righted material that may appear in this fic.**_

**Worlds Apart**

Chapter 7: Two Faces

Rika sat at her desk staring blankly down at the sheet of math problems she was pretending to do. Occasionally she would attempt to focus and write a few numbers down before losing interest and stopping. A few feet away Renamon sat quietly against the wall watching her friend feign interest in her homework. It wasn't until Rika began tapping her pencil rhythmically against the metal desk lamp that Renamon decided to speak.

"Is something wrong Rika?" Renamon asked. Rika stopped tapping and dropped her pencil.

"Well..." Rika began, spinning around in her computer chair. "I've just been wondering, what was it like before you came here?"

"What do you mean?" Renamon asked surprised. "You mean before I met you?"

"Yeah... It's just since the other day when you told us about that thing with Liam... I-it made me realize we've known each other all these years and I don't know anything about what your life was like before I met you" Rika said slightly embarrassed.

"There's a reason for that Rika... It isn't important" Renamon replied, standing up. Rika leaned back in her chair, blocking part of the light from the desk lamp, causing her face to be partially obscured as she stared at Renamon. "Just as what happened before you came to the digital world to bring me home is unimportant". Renamon stopped as Rika sat up straight.

"Brought you home." Rika repeated, smiling.

"Yeah" Renamon said with a taunting smile. "This has been home for a long time Rika".

"I know... I've just never heard you say it before" Rika said as the two laughed.

"At any rate, very little of what happened during those times would have been of any interest... Though with recent developments-" Renamon broke off looking away.

"Renamon... Do you know anything else about those protectors?" Rika asked, sensing her partner was avoiding the subject.

"I don't _know _anything for sure" Renamon replied turning back to look Rika in the eye again.

"I'm guessing you have some idea though" Rika said shrewdly.

"Well there wa-" Renamon began before falling silent. She turned to face the door to the yard of the house. "We're going to have to put a pin in this for now Rika".

"You sensing a disturbance in the force?" Rika asked chuckling. Right on queue her D-Arc began glowing and making a shrill beeping noise. "No rest for the weary I suppose".

The two set off for the location of the signal. Rika weaving in and out of traffic on the roads and Renamon running along rooftops adjacent to the route Rika took. It wasn't long before the two found themselves barred several blocks from the digimon the military. The two immediately Bio-merged and flew over the road block.

As they rose into the air they could see distant flashes of light and hear explosions in the distance. Figuring the others must be have gotten their already they hurried into the battle. As they approached the battle site Sakuyamon could see MegaGargomon launching a barrage of missiles and Justimon fighting what appeared to be a human child hand to hand. At least it's form looked like a child. It was maybe half of Justimon's height with no distinguishing features. The entire being was volcanic red. Despite being human in shape, it didn't appear to have eye's or a mouth.

"What the hell is that thing?" Rika asked looking horrified as it grappled with Justimon.

"Look!" Renamon's cool voice said, her voice permeating the blue sphere as she pointed to a spot a short distance down the street. There stood an identical being except this one was colored muddy grey and standing with it's arms crossed staring at MegaGargomon.

A moment later MegaGargomon launched a full out assault, firing dozens of missiles at the grey figure. Sakuyamon felt the wind pick up as the missiles soared towards the grey form and were swept into the nearby buildings. At that moment the red figure pushed Justimon back and lashed at him with a whip of fire. Sakuyamon swooped in front of him casting a shield to deflect the attack. The red being stumbled as the grey one sprinted toward them with lightning speed. The grey one jump kicked MegaGargomon in the chest sending him backwards, before landing next to the red being.

"Who are you?" Sakuyamon asked, keeping her shield up.

"I am Gemini" the red figure said in a deep voice.

"I am Mithuna" the grey figure said much higher voice.

"Gemini!" Henry yelled from within MegaGargomon "they're one of the Zodiac!"

"Now you're getting it!" Mithuna and Gimini said in unison, sending out waves of fire and air simultaneously. The three mega's scattered attempting to dodge the wave of fire that was bolstered by the wind forcing more oxygen into it.

"Where the hell is Takato?" Justimon asked as the wave of fire went by them.

"Don't know" Sakuyamon replied. "If you think you can take the grey one, I'll try to help MegaGargomon hold off the red one."

"I don't know that I can, but I'll try" Justimon said, charging back towards the two. At the same time MegaGargomon released another swarm of missiles and again the wind picked up and drove them off coarse. This time into the ground causing large craters and cracks to spread across the ground, sending dust and smoke into the air. Gemini capitalized on this opportunity and charge MegaGargomon again. Sakuyamon darted into the it's path and swung with her staff. It jumped over her and sent a slash of fire toward MegaGargomon who had moved toward them to help, he stumbled and dropped to one knee. Gemini then swooped down with a hard kick and sent Sakuyamon backwards. MegaGargomon barely managed to catch her.

A split second later Gemini rammed into MegaGargomon full force, eliciting a cry of pain as the robot toppled over and Sakuyamon soared forward, she put all her strength into the swing and it connected as Gemini met her strike with a punch. The two collided with such force it sent out a small shock wave, shattering the glass in the store fronts and pushing both combatants back several feet. MegaGargomon stood unsteadily.

"His powers are insane" Sakuyamon commented. At this Gemini let out a loud shrill laugh that made Sakuyamon's hair stand on end.

"You have made a grave mistake little girl" Gemini said his voice dripping with malevolence. "I am more than capable of keeping you two busy. While your friend battles my sister alone, who is far more powerful" Gemini continued laughing as another explosion occurred behind them. Through the dust and smoke Sakuyamon and MegaGargomon could barely see the outline of Ryo in human form kneeling in front of Mithuna.

"Say goodbye to your friends, little boy" Mithuna said in a high, cold voice. Just before she could complete here attack a beam of lightning struck her in the side, propelling her away from Ryo and Monodramon.

"Sorry we're late" Gallantmon yelled flying towards them. Gemini turned to see who had attacked Mithuna. Sakuyamon sent a sphere of blue fire directly into Gemini's chest. Gemini recovered quickly and jumped back to stand by Mithuna. Sakuyamon landed in front of Ryo and Monodramon, putting up a barrier. Gallantmon landed next to her as MegaGargomon walked up behind them.

"Henry, you and Ryo get out of here" Sakuyamon said, starring at Gemini, and Mithuna. "We'll need someone around in case these two get away."

"Okay" Henry replied, he knew he would be little help against these two. They were to fast for him. MegaGargmon picked up Ryo and Monodramon and flew away.

"Watch it Tokato, these two are part of the Zodiac" Sakuyamon said as Mithuna and Gemini moved into fighting positions.

"Great... Think we can take em?" Takato asked.

"In your dreams kid" Mithunamon said, charging Sakuyamon.

Sakuyamon and Gallantmon both jumped into the air as the two rushed them. They then flew in opposite directions down the street, trying to separate the two. Mithunamon jumped into the air sending a blast of wind to knock Sakuyamon off coarse. Sakuyamon spun in mid air and met the downward kick that followed with her staff, causing Mithuna to fly upward cursing in pain. Sakuyamon sent a jet of blue fire in her direction which grazed her arm.

Mithuna landed on the ground, creating a small tornado that sent dust in all directions creating cover. Sakuyamon lahsed out at her full force, crasher her staff into Mithuna's side. Sakuyamon heard her yell in pain, a split second later a jet of fire hit Sakuyamon sending her backwards. Rika screamed as she felt the flames searing her skin and could hear Takato trying to prevent Gemini from attacking her again.

Despite the pain Sakuyamon landed and sent another jet of fire at Mithuna who was streaking towards her for another attack. The fire missed and Mithuna's attack connected. Sakuyamon fell to her knees as her lungs emptied from the force of the attack. Mithuna wasted no time in kicking Sakuyamon as hard as she could. Something of a haze descended on Rika as pain shot through her body. Sakuyamon laned several feet outside of the cloud of dust. Rika fought to stay conscious as she felt herself separating from Renamon. It wasn't until Mithuna delivered a stomp into the center of Sakuyamon that Rika's world turned back and the two split apart. Even before the light had faded, Renamon moved to shield Rika from Mithuna.

"You don't really think you can protect her from me do you?" Mithuna asked amused. Renamon gritted her teeth. "Have it your way" Mithuna said lazily holding up her hand to destroy them both.

"Rain of swords!" before Mithuan had time to deliver the finishing blow a hale storm of lighting descened on them both. Renamon threw herself on top of Rika so one couldn't hit her. A moment later a white hooded figure swooped in, delivering a crashing blow to Mithuna who stumbled backward yelling in pain. "Are you okay?" Liam asked landing next to Renamon and Rika as the lighting dissipated. His and mask were both down and he had a very worried look on his face.

"She's hurt" Renamon said standing up.

"Get them out of here!" Exer yelled. "I can handle these two!"

"Can you carry her?" Liam asked.

"Yes" Renamon replied placing one arm under Rika's back and the other under her knees.

"Okay lead the way to her house, I'll cover your flank" Liam replied as Renamon jumped onto the nearest roof top and began running. Liam soared over both of them with his swords out looking around. They had made it several blocks before a blast of fire issued from the street and Liam had to land on a building to avoid it. A moment later Gemini jumped onto the roof.

"Did you really think a boy and his dinosaur would be a match for me?" Gemini asked, laughing. Liam moved forward, shielding Renamon and Rika.

"Stay behind me" Liam said his voice shaking. A second later Gemini sent a burst of red fire at them. Renamon and Liam jumped in opposite directions. Liam sent two blasts of blue fire towards Gemini who dodged them. Renamon jumped to the next building, trying to get away but was met in mid air by Gemini. He sent another burst of red fire at her. Renamon spun in the air and curled around Rika, hoping aginst hope she could survive the blast. Liam flew between them and the fire seemed to split and go in separate directions.

"Were you locked up so long you forgot the basis of my power?" Liam asked as Renamon landed on the roof and Liam floated in front of her. Gemini gave no response, instead he charged Liam with his fist raised. Liam caught his fist in mid air but the force of the blow sent all of them flying backwards off the side of the building. Renamon managed to land somewhat on her feet before Gemini forced her back into the brick wall of the building. She collapsed writing in pain.

Liam swung one of his swords toward Gemini who ducked it and rammed himself into Liam's stomach. Liam stumbled tripping and fell to the ground. Gemini proceeded to land blow after blow to every inch of Liam he could reach. Liam managed to get a good enough grip on Gemini to launch him off the side, as Gemini attempted to stand up Liam sent a sword spinning in his direction, which pierced through Gemini's left shoulder. Liam kneeled up, spitting blood onto the ground. Gemini pulled the sword out of his shoulder as flecs of what appeared to be magma rolled out like blood.

It was then that Gemini made his fatal mistake. He used Liam's sword to smash into the ground, sending a wave cracking earth towards him, he jumped out of the way and before Gemini to could move he had sent a wave of blue fire back at him which spread through the air and engulfed him. The fire just grew bigger and bigger as Liam moved closer, focusing all of his energy into containing all the energy of the fire into the space occupied by Gemini who began screaming as Liam poured more energy into the blaze. The fire turned yellow, blue, red, and eventually black as Liam added his own energy to the now towering spiral of fire. After more then a minute of this Liam released the energy with sent an enormous wave of technicolor fire into the sky, temporarily illuminating the horizon. The smoke cleared and Gemini was gone. He had been totally obliterate by the attack.

"Please tell me you can walk" Liam said limping over to where Renamon and Rika were.

"I think so" Renamon said attempting to stand, still holding Rika. No sooner then she managed to stand up straight one of her knees gave out and she collapsed again.

"Let me carry her" Liam said, kneeling and placing his arms under Renamon's. Renamon didn't like the idea, but she knew she couldn't make it home carrying her in this condition.

"She's light as a feather" Renamon said moving he arms so that Liam's could replace her's.

"Okay, now lead the way to her house" Liam replied kicking off from the ground as Renamon jumped to the nearest rooftop. They managed to get the rest of the way to her house without trouble. Renamon opened the door silently and stepped in, motioning Liam passed her. Liam half collapsed as he lowered her onto her bed. A moment later he stood up straight rubbing leg. Then he bent back over and placed two fingers on the side of Rika's neck.

"What are you doing?" Renamon asked quietly so she wouldn't wake any of Rika's family. This was slightly pointless as none of them had rooms very close together.

"Checking her pulse" Liam replied. After a little over a minute he moved his hand to her right side and applied some pressure. Rika seemed to convulse instinctively. Renamon moved to make sure he wasn't hurting her. "Must be a broken rib... It's just a muscle reflex."

"You know something about human medicine I take it?" Renamon asked.

"Bandaged my fair share of wounds year" Liam replied in a low voice. After checking for broken ribs on Rika's opposite side he rested his hand on top of her left breast. Renamon gave him a warning glare. Liam looked up and saw her looking daggers at him. "I see Rika's taught you a lot about the human world... I'm only checking her breathing pattern to make sure that broken rib hasn't splintered and punctured her lung." Renamon looked over Rika. There were several cuts and bruises on her face and she noticed her breathing did seem a little labored. She also had several cuts and burns up and down her arms.

"Is there anything I can do?" Renamon asked as Liam moved toward Rika's head. He pulled one of her eye's slightly open and flashed a bit of fire in his palm.

"Well you have two choices" Liam said, letting go of Rika and standing up. "You can go get her mom and she'll take her to the hospital, or you can just try to make her comfortable. I don't think she's in any immediate danger, and Exer can heal most of her injuries when she gets here... I'm sorry to say my healing powers don't work on humans, so it's up to you." Liam turned and walked to the door.

"Where are you going?" Renamon asked suspiciously.

"I'm gonna step outside and take care of my injuries... By the way sorry I can't heal you... I'm kinda low on energy at the moment." Liam replied apologetically. He stepped outside and closed the door behind him. Renamon could hear him sit down on the endge of the porch outside facing the pond in the center of the house. Renamon did what she could to make Rika comfortable. After she spread a blanket over top of her Renamon went outside to see what Liam was doing. She was surprised to find him leaning against one of the wooden supports, resting an arm his knee, dangling his leg off the side of the porch. As Renamon slid the door shut he pulled a silver flask from within his cloak, unscrewed the lid and took a long drink.

"What's that? Data packets" Renamon guesses walking to the pillar across from him and mirror his sitting postion.

"Ha- Kentucky bourbon actually" Liam replied taking another drink. "Bourbon is an alcoholic drink like rice wine, and Kentucky is a place that's famous for it. Kinda like Lynchburg is famous for wine." Renamon laughed slightly.

"When you said take care of your injuries I was expecting to see you seering your wounds shut" Renamon said.

"I could do that... But in a few days all my wounds will have healed anyway so I don't see the point." Liam said simple.

"Aren't you going back to help Exer?" Renamon asked.

"No... Fat lot of good I'd do right now... Besides Exer can handle herself" Liam said looking toward the horizon where the orange glow of fire could still be seen even at this distance.

"Hm" Renamon tutted closing her eyes.

"Something on your mind?" Liam asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Just wondering why you need our help... You're clearly strong enough to destroy these things on your own." Renamon replied choosing her words carefully. Liam rolled his eyes.

"Yes I thought it might be that." Liam with a heavy sigh. "Mithunamon aka Gemini and Mithuna are not the strongest of the Zodiac individually... But as you saw when they are together they are very careful about watching each others back... As for me managing to kill one of them... I was lucky." Liam said, shrugging.

"You're joking?" Renamon asked in an amused voice.

"We would've been in trouble if the idiot hadn't used my sword to smash into the gas line that luckily ran under that street... I used my power over fire to ignite it and concentrate it into one area." Liam continued, taking another drink. "Unfortunately between the beating I took and all the energy it took to do something like that I wouldn't be much use against Mithuna now... So I'm staying here to make sure you two are all right."

"How considerate of you" Renamon said in a sarcastic tone.

"What exactly is it everyone thinks we hope to gain from you?" Liam asked angrily.

"I don't know... That's what worries me" Renamon replied calmly. "And what did you mean everyone?"

"The digidestined just tried to attack me" Liam said exasperatedly. "Now you think I have some evil plan."

"I don't think you have an evil plan" Renamon said, opening her eyes.

"Then what-" Liam began.

"I think you're working an angle." Renamon cut him off. "I think you and Exer are very smart... And are manipulating these children to get whatever it is that you want. I do not however think that whatever you want is necessarily evil." Renamon finished. Liam shifted uncomfortably and Renamon was sure she had touched a nerve.

"That's some imagination you've got there" Liam said after a moment.

"Am I wrong?" Renamon asked, a cool satisfaction in her voice.

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see... Like I told the others. You don't have to trust us, all you have to do is fight with us... Can you do that?" Liam asked turning so that both his legs hung off the side. He extended his hand toward Renamon, who shook it.

"Even if I couldn't. I get the sense we don't have much choice" Renamon said as she let go. Before Liam could reply, Exer and Gallantmon landed in front of them.

"Good to see your both okay" Liam said, sounding relieved.

"Yeah... I take it Gemini cought up with you?" Exer asked spotting the cuts on Liam's face and the flask in his hand.

"I took care of it" Liam replied.

"Sorry about that" Takato said as he and Guilmon split apart. "There was so much stuff flying everywhere I got caught up trying to attack Mithuna and he just got away... Is Rika okay?"

"You need to take a look at her Ex... She isn't in really bad shape but she got roughed up a pretty good bit." Liam said. Exer walked passed both of them without another word, closing the door behind her.

"So she's... okay?" Takato asked.

"She isn't dead if that's what you're wondering... She'll feel it in the morning, but nothing major" Liam replied, taking another drink of his bourbon.

"Are you two alright?" Renamon asked. The two gave a small nod in reply. At that moment a soft light radiated from inside Rika's room. After a few seconds it faded and Exer opened the door.

"I healed all her more serious injuries... She's not gonna feel to good in the morning but she'll be alright... Just tell her to take it easy." Exer announced to the small group.

"Thank you" Renamon said standing up. As Exer took a step forward Renamon was surprised at how pale and tired she looked.

"We should get going" Liam said getting to his feet. He was moving with a slight limp, sort of dragging his left leg.

"You're welcome and if there are any problems just contact us with your D-Arcs" Exer said as she stepped forward beside Liam.

"We'll see you soon" Liam said waving at Tokato and Guilmon who returned the gesture. A moment later the two flew away, though in different directions.

"Let's check on Rika" Takato said immediately. Renamon turned and opened the door as the two followed her in. Rika was still in the same position Renamon had left her in. Many of the cuts and bruises seemed to have disapeared, and the ones that remained look days old. She seemed to be breathing easier now.

"She'll be okay now" Renamon said stepping into the dark room.

"Mind if I stay to make sure?" Takato asked, not really caring what Renamon's answer was.

"You don't think I can han-" Renamon began looking over her shoulder at Tokato.

"I think I'd feel better if I stayed" Tokato said flatly. Renamon turned to face him. Then she did something Tokato wasn't sure he had seen her do more then once. She smiled at him.

"Alright, stay until she wakes up... If you don't think you'll get into to much trouble" Renamon added teasingly.

"I don't care how much trouble I get in" Tokato said. He walked over and sat down on the floor across from Rika's bed. Guilmon turned and went back outside to lay in the garden. Renamon smiled again as she sat down to sleep against the wall near the head of Rika's bed. While Tokato and the others were settling in to sleep, Liam and Exer's work was only beginning.

Liam sat alone on the edge of a rooftop near the edge of town. He was still drinking from another silver flask. He was staring up at the nearly full moon and enjoying the peace and quiet of the night and the chill of the cool air. Exer landed and walked up behind him.

"I thought you would've finished that by now" Exer said as she sat down, dangling her legs over the side just like him.

"I brought two" Liam said, shaking the flask slightly so that the liquid made a loud sloshing noise.

"You alcoholic" Exer said luaghing. She took an enormous bite of ice cream out of the dark blue cup she was holding.

"I swear you plan battles based on where Dairy Queens are located." Liam replied laughing.

"You deal with stuff using alcohol I deal using crazy amounts of sugar" Exer replied taking another large bite.

"And absurd amounts of chocolate apparently." Liam said eying the cup suspiciously.

"Trade ya a bite for a sip?" Exer asked, offering him the cup.

"Bourbon for ice cream... One of us is getting screwed on this deal" Liam said as they both laughed and swapped items. Liam took one bite and started laughing again. "You're gonna go into a sugar coma after you finish that thing." Exer took a drink of the bourbon and caughed slightly.

"So" she began as they traded the items back. "Which one do you like?"

"T.K." Liam replied, looking up at the moon.

"Really?" Exer asked sounding surprised. "I thought for sure you'd want one of the goggle heads."

"Tai's a good guy... But I think he likes playing the hero a little to much... And I'm sure as hell not handing my life's work over to Davis!" Liam replied.

"Davis is a nice kid but I can't say I blame you... I'm pretty sure you already know which one I want" Exer said. Liam dropped his gaze from the moon and turned to look her in the eye and smirked.

"Rika" he said simply.

"Yeah... Not really a hard choice to make honestly" Exer said.

"Hm... She's tough" Liam said, turning his head down toward the street. "When do you want to start the next phase?"

"They've earned a rest... We shouldn't do anything for at least two weeks I'd say" Exer said.

"I agree... Renamon knows we're up to something" Liam added as an after thought. Exer stopped chewing the bit to look over at Liam who wouldn't meet her eye.

"Does she know what?" Exer asked with some difficulty owing to the amount of chocolate cementing her teeth together.

"I don't see how... She just got through telling me how she thinks we're up to something, she's just not sure we're 'evil'" Liam said.

"That's a question I wish I could answer my self" Exer said setting her nearly empty cup down. "But one way or the other it's to late to turn back now."

"You're right" Liam said. The two sat in silence for a moment thinking about the string of events that had lead them here.

"I should be going" Exer said abruptly standing up.

"Where are you going?" Liam asked, knowing the answer.

"The Dark Ocean" Exer replied cooly.

"You can't go there right now" Liam said exasperated. "You should take time to rest and-"

"You know as well as I do that it doesn't make any difference what physical shape I'm in when I go there." Exer cut across him.

"Why can't you just-" Liam attempted to begin again.

"Because I want to end this Liam" Exer said forcefully drawing herself up to her full height. Liam looked down and as acid green met steel blue, he knew he wouldn't be able to talk her out of it.

"Here" he said unsnapping his cloak "I remember it's very cold there and yours isn't in very good shape... Trade me" he finished offer it to her. She smiled and unsnapped her own cloak and traded him.

"I'll be fine... Or at least I'll be better then you would be" she added in a somber tone.

"You're right... Besides we don't know how long it will take you to find the spells we need" Liam said. "Just... watch your back... Okay?" Liam asked sheepishly. Exer stepped forward and hugged him. After a few seconds the two broke apart, turned on their heels and were gone in two separate clouds of data mist. Unbeknownst to them a small humanoid figure stepped out from behind a sign on top of the building across the street. He had been listening to their whole conversation.

"Very interesting..." Impmon said, scratching his chin. "I better tell the others in the morning... What the hell could those two want with Rika?"

_**A/N: Again sorry for the long wait. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and whether you did or not, please review and let me know what you think!**_


	8. Gennai Explains it All

**A/N: I had to update this chapter to fix a few things.**

**Worlds Apart**

Chapter 8: Gennai Explains it All

Rika awoke to a distant rumble of thunder. Her whole body ached and there was a slight pounding in her head. She was having trouble remembering what had happened the night before. She could remember doing homework then heading towards the Digimon then... Rika gasped sitting bolt upright as the memory of Gemini defeating them came flooding back to her. She grabbed her side as a sharp pain shot through it.

"Rika are you alright?" Said a voice from across the room. Rika opened her eyes for the first time. The voice she heard was familiar, but it wasn't Renamon as she expected.

"T-Takato?" Rika asked stunned. She slowly dropped her head to see that she was wearing different clothes then she had the day before. "Did you-" Rika began outrage swinging her legs out of bed and standing up.

"What the- NO!" Takato stammered taking a step back. However Rika began to collapse just after she stood up and Renamon moved to catch her.

"No Rika I did that" Renamon said reassuringly, lightly her back into bed.

"What the hell happened last night?" Rika asked rubbing her head.

"Do you want some Advil?" Takato asked.

"Uh sure" Rika replied and Takato left the room. He had been to her house enough times to find his way to the medicine cabinte. "What's he doing here?"

"He wouldn't leave until he was sure Exer and Liam hadn't done anything to harm you" Renamon replied quietly. Rika blushed slightly.

"What have they got to do with this?" Rika asked. A moment later Takato returned with two pills and some water. Rika took them and drank her water as Renamon recounted what had happened on their way home the night before. After she finished her story, omitting her conversation with Liam. Takato and Rika sat in silence for a little while.

"So Renamon... What do you make of those two?" Takato asked to no one in particular.

"I think they've got ulterior motives" Renamon said.

"I agree... It sure would help if we knew some more about them." Rika said, rubbing her chin. Just then they heard foot steps outside Rika's door.

"Rika are you up yet? It's almost ten!" Her mothers voice called through the door.

"Shit! Hide in the back yard" Rika said in an urgent whisper. Renamon ushered Takato to the door opening it silently. Takato stepped out onto the rain soaked patio to see Guilmon curled up into a ball still fast asleep. He stepped to the right and leaned his back to the wall. Rika's and Rumiko's voices drifted through the walls though their words were unintelligible.

Takato pulled out his D-Arc and saw immediately that he two messages from Davis. He opened the first one.

"Dear Tamers

We're doing some research into this business with the Zodiac and those Protectors. Can you meet us in the same place in the digital world on November 17th?" Takato pushed the button to reply but decided to read the second message first.

"Tamers

We were attacked by another Zodiac Digimon last night and had a scuffle with Liam. I'm sorry but we can't afford to wait until tomorrow. We've arranged a meeting with one of our contacts today. If you are able, meet us on top of Fire Talon Ridge at noon." Takato typed a three word reply of 'see you then' and pocketed his D-Arc as the door opened and Rika stepped out. She had changed into a pair of jeans as well as a new shirt that was slightly to large for her. Takato guesed it was to keep it from rubbing against any cuts she had left.

"Sorry about that" Rika said quietly, closing the door behind her. "I really didn't want to explain to my mom why I've got a boy in my room at ten AM on a Saturday." The two laughed slightly. "Though... Why did you stay last night?" Rika added tentatively.

"Because I was worried and-" Takato broke off looking away as he felt the blood rush up into his face. "I wanted to make sure those two hadn't done anything to you."

"Hm... I guess that sounds better then you're just some freak who likes watching me sleep" Rika said in an abrupt return to her usual tone.

"Who you callin' a freak?" Takato asked as they laughed. "Oh yeah and I got a message from Davis... He wants us to meet him in the Digital world on Fire Talon Ridge at noon to meet some contact of theirs"

"Well lets hope they have some answers... As of right now we're pretty much stumbling around in the dark." Rika said looking out over the rain soaked yard. There was another crack of thunder and a distant fork of lightning.

"Good morning" Guilmon said sleepily. He stood up and walked out to the pond to get a drink.

"Yeah I'll go call Henry and tell him to meet us here" Takato said pulling out his phone. He walked away dialing the number leaving Rika to lean against the door thinking about the events of the last few days.

"Somethin' on your mind?" Impmon asked dropping onto the porch and slinging rain everywhere. Rika jumped.

"How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me?" Rika asked as Impmon laughed.

"I'm actually here to help. I got some information you might wanna hear" Impmon said shaking the rain off. Rika through up her hand to shield herself from the splatter. "I overheard these this couple talking last night over by that big Nintendo billboard thing. I didn't hear all of it but it sounded like they have something big planned for you and this guy named T.K."

"What did these two look like?" Rika asked wanting to be sure it was them.

"Uh both mid twenties. One girl with a braided pony tail down her back, brown hair blue eyes. One guys jet black hair medium length, bright green eye's. They both had on trench coats hers white his black." Impmon rambled off, scratching his chin.

"Hm... Have you told anyone else about this?" Rika asked.

"Nope you're the first" Impmon said sounding surprised.

"Listen don't tell Takato or anyone else about this... I don't want them flying off the handle" Rika added to Impmon's puzzled look.

"Whatever you say" Impmon said as Takato returned.

"Okay Henry will be here around eleven... Oh hey Impmon" Takato added waving to him. "What are you doing here?"

"Just dropped by to say hello" Impmon said shiftily.

"If we're leaving when Henry gets here we better eat breakfast... Don't worry" Rika said as Takato opened his mouth to ask about her mother. "Mom's gone until Tuesday to some fashion show in Tokyo and grandma won't be home from visiting friends until tomorrow night." With that the two went inside and ate a quick breakfast with Renamon, Guilmon and Impmon. Henry arrived a little passed 11.

"Sorry I'm late" Henry said, pulling his green poncho off as he stepped inside.

"It's alright... We aren't supposed to be there until noon anyway" Takato said checking his watch. "It's half passed eleven so lets go"

"Mind if I come?" Impmon asked stepping out of the kitchen. "I'd like to find out who these two wise guys you've been yapping about are."

"If it keeps you from eating all my food then yeah you can come" Rika said limping into the room. Henry's eye's widened a little bit.

"You sure you should come? I didn't think you got beat up that badly." Henry said, knowing full well Rika would sooner start hosting regular tea parties then sit this out.

"It's much better now then it was before actually" Renamon said.

"I'm up to it Henry" Rika said trying to keep contempt out of her voice.

"Ready boy?" Takato asked Guilmon.

"Of coarse" Guilmon said hapily. Takato held out his D-Arc and a cloud of data spread out and engulfed them. They fell once more through an ocean of data and landed on a cliff in the Digital world. Takato looked around and spotted Davis, Ken, Yolei, T.K., Cody, Kari, Izzy, Matt and Tai all sitting under a large Oak tree.

"You guys don't look to good" Cody said as the three waved and walked towards them.

"Shoulda seen the other guy" Rika quipped.

"Looks like they sent a much more powerful Digimon after you two" Davis aid standing up.

"We don't know that anyone 'sent' anything Davis" Matt chimed in.

"Look don't start this now" Tai said angrily as Davis opened his mouth to reply. Davis closed his mouth grudgingly. "We're meeting our friend Gennai at his castle... We're hoping he knows something about Liam or Exer."

"We should probably get moving" Izzy said, checking his watch. I'm sure he won't mind if we're a few minutes early. The group descended into a nearby canyon via a wide rode that went directly down the side. At the center of the canyon below was the picture perfect example of a castle from the middle ages, complete with four large unmanned guard towers.

The group kept onto the path which eventually widened out enough to allow them to walk onto the draw bridge at the gate of the castle. The group continued inside and saw Gennai wiating at the bottom of a large staircase situated between two large wooden doors.

"It's good to see you kids... How are things going?" Gennai asked as the group approached him. Takato and Henry had dropped to the back of the group where Rika was limping along a few steps behind.

"Not good... I'm afraid this isn't a social visit Gennai" Tai said, nudging Davis as he opened his mouth to speak.

"What's the problem" Gennai asked.

"Some of your idiot Gods failed experiments have started escaping into our worlds" Rika called from the back of the group. The group stepped back looking at her. Their attention almost immediately refocused on Gennai who looked as though he had seen a ghost.

"It can't... How... Why?" Gennai gasped stepping backwards and tripping over one of the steps. "That... is... impossible!"

"What... Us?" Henry asked.

"Explain... Explain right now!" Gennai commanded, standing back up. "You've broken a universal law! How did you do it?" Gennai reiterated nearly screaming.

"We didn't!" Davis yelled back.

"The Protectors did" Matt finished dramatically. Any color that might have remained in Gennai's face drained away. "We've had several conversations with Liam and Exer... And a couple of those Zodiac beasts you that were supposed to be sealed away forever escaped and tried to kill us."

"How much do you know?" Gennai said. He had gasped once more at the mention of the Zodiac.

"Not nearly enough" Yolei said. "We were hoping you could shed some light on those two... So maybe we can at least figure out who's side they're on." Gennai regained some of his composure.

"Well I don't know for what purpose they brought all of you together... As you just saw I had no idea you had learned of the other worlds... But I suppose I can explain how they came to be." Gennai said beckoning for them all to follow him. He led them through the large wooden door to the right and down some stairs. They found themselves in a large circular room with arcane symbols drawn on the floor. "This room will allow me to show you passed events... As well as tell you about them."

"Because data is only marked to be over written no history in the digital ever disappears does it?" Izzy asked as the thought dawned on him.

"That's correct" Gennai said as the room began to glow a strange blueish color. "Before I explain Liam and Exer I must first explain the old world to you... The world before the layers."

"You mean the Digital world didn't always have the multiple layers like it does now?" Cody asked.

"No... At one point it was a single plain with many inhabitants. The world was ruled by the five great gods known as the Sovereign each with their own domain" Gennai said as the floor and walls changed colors to look as though they were standing in a snowy mountain range.

"There are only four Sovereign" Takato cut in.

"Yes I'll get to that" Gennai said sounding slightly irritated. To the northern mountain range there was the domain of Ebonwumon. His were Digimon of great heart and resilience. They braved frigged winters as if it were nothing and brought forth from the world great minerals like copper and iron."

"To the western hills was Baihumon. His Digimon used the minerals obtained in the north to forge tools and instruments." Gennai continued as the view changed from a snowy mountain range to a landscape of rolling hills with numerous farms and what appeared to be small villages. "His Digimon also valued toughness just as Ebonwumon's did. However they valued intelligence above all else. They were always trying to find a better way of doing things."

"Did the Sovereign actually interact with the Digimon back then?" Renamon asked.

"Rarely... Even then they preferred to let them figure it out" Gennai said indifferently. "To the eastern fields was the domain of Azulongmon... Whom sought simplicity and spiritual enlightenment." Gennai added as the landscape changed again to a sprawling fields where several Digimon appeared to be meditating. Others where simple laying on their backs staring up at the clouds.

"So far we've had a mountain range, a field and some hill country... Next up is the sea right?" Izzy asked as the images began to shift again.

"Close... To the southern coast there was Zhuqiaomon and his industrial heartland." This time the scene changed to something that looked like an early twentieth century picture of New York city. With massive buildings stretching upward, filthy streets and a sky that was obscured by smoke from what appeared to be factories.

"I never would have thought that the digital world had any industrialization..." Izzy said astounded, looking around.

"In those days we had quite a bit... We even had iron mills and rail roads." Gennai said. "Zhuqiaomon and his Digimon valued power above all else. Survival of the fittest was their only law... At the center of these four was Unitate... A city where all four ways of life crossed and our culture was shared." This time the room did not change to mirror what he was talking about. "But in the southern sea beyond Zhuqiaomon's factories was a great sunken city... Led by the fallen Sovereign... Dragomon" Gennai finished as the scene warped. This time revealing an enormous sunken city. Inhabited by dark aquatic Digimon.

"Wait wait... Dragomon... That thing that tried to kidnap Kari a few years back?" T.K. asked in disgust. "How is he part of the Sovereign?"

"The very same... And according to legend Fanglongmon created the five Sovereign and gave them the world to rule. After a time he left this plain... Leaving only the crests of Light and Darkness behind."

"Crest of Darkness?" Cody asked remember the words on the computer the day before.

"There are 8 crests of virtue... and light guides them all... Just as the crest of darkness guides the seven crests of sin... It is said that the Sovereign fought over the crests and eventually Azulongmon emerged as the victor obtaining the crest of light and banishing Dragomon to the ocean with the crest of darkness... He then created spheres of the other eight virtues to distribute among the other Sovereign... For a while all was well and the world worked in harmony... Then I discovered the world and managed to cross over. The Sovereign were interested in the other worlds... In order to ensure they would always have humans to help them communicate they granted me eternal youth... It was after that that they decided to start selecting a "Guardian" to... Do their dirty work" Gennai said laughing very coldly.

"They wanted him to do the work that was beneath them." Rika stated.

"Pretty much... And for several generations it kinda worked. They allowed the guardian to age normally and die as all humans do... However this created problems such as instability in the time between the old guardian dieing and the new one mastering his powers" Gennai rambled on as the scene remained suspended in time inside the dark city.

"How long does it take to master those kind of powers?" Yolei asked.

"Years... Decades in some cases" Gennai replied. "They decided to select one guardian and do as they had done to me, give him eternal youth... This turned out to be a grave mistake... His name was Joseph Heller... For a while he was one of the best guardians we'd ever had... Until Dragomon and Zhuqiaomon poisoned his mind... They convinced him that he was of a superior breed to other humans and that he should help them lead Digimon into other worlds to conquer them... And that he should start by helping them to over throw the Sovereign here" Gennai waved his hand and a map appeared below them, with lines drawn to indicate the four territories. "He led Dragomon's dark creations out of the ocean and armed them with Zhuqiaomon's armor and weapons... Then they marched north... The world bled for nearly five years while the Sovereign struggled to organize and arm their forces." The lines on the map began to move and morph until nearly two thirds of the map seemed to be one large southern province.

"So what happened?" Kari asked tentatively. She was imaging all the Digimon who must have died to move that line up so much.

"I asked for a hero... And what I got... Was Liam" Gennai said with something like fondness in his voice. "Trouble was the Sovereign feared that he to might turn on them so they refused to give him the same amount of power they had given Heller... Though they did at least give him eternal youth... It was bitter work at first... he hadn't had time to master his own powers let alone teach anyone else how to fight... But he brought something that we had been lacking... Leadership... It's hard to follow someone who is content to sit well inside their territory while you lay your life on the line... After he arrived it gave us some sense equality... Because our General laid his life on the line every night fighting for us... I don't know how Liam has acted toward you but I can tell you with conviction that without him... We probably wouldn't be standing here."

"How did he turn the tide if he hadn't mastered his powers?" Tai asked.

"Well over time he did... But it was more..." Gennai thought hard. "It came down to the fact that Liam cared about his soldiers... The Sovereign didn't... More then once I watched him go without food or sleep so a Rookie level foot soldier could have them. Or spend endless nights digging graves or setting funeral pyres... He wasn't a genius tactician or a war monger... He just found a way to make it work... More then anything I think he just gave them a symbol to look up to... A symbol of hope" Gennai trailed off. "I'm not going to show you what that was like... Those were dark times and you don't need those images in your heads."

"Sounds like your right" Matt said a little nervously.

"But after we started gaining ground the war escalated... Dragomon enlisted the help of the Demon Lords so Liam asked for the aid of the Royal Knights. Zhuqiaomon ramped up his iron production, Liam got the method for making steel from Baihumon... And so it went on... Until Zhuqiaomon created the Zodiac beasts to lead his armies... After that it seemed we were destined for defeat... So Liam gave the Sovereign an ultimatum... They could give him the power to the end of the war personally, get involved themselves, or give him someone they would... And if they did nothing he would find the power another way" Gennai continued as the lines on the map moved continuously.

"And out of that threat came Exer right?" Takato asked.

"Precisely... She wasn't exactly the power Liam had wanted but after a rough start on the battle field she managed to help us drive them back again... After a while though it became clear that unless one side gave in this war would never end... Even after Beelzemon defected to our side-" Gennai broke off realizing Impmon was with them.

"You mean I helped do all of this?" Impmon asked dropping his gaze to the ground.

"You defected shortly after Exer's arrival... And towards the end of the war you became Liam's right hand... he trusted you as much as I've ever seen him trust anyone... He considered you a valuable part of his army, and a fierce friend" Gennai said trying to cheer the small digimon up. Rika stepped over and put her hand on his shoulder. "I don't know that it will make you feel any better... But you are the literal reincarnation of that Beelzemon... And since it was you that helped us end the war you've technically saved the world twice now."

"There ya go buddy" Takato said giving Impmon a playful nudge. Impmon shook his head.

"How did it end... What happened next?" Impmon aksed wanting to change the subject.

"Beelzemon told Exer and Liam of the crests of sin... He even turned over his own crest of Gluttony to him. Exer made a deal with the Demon lords to have control over the others for a short time... But she double crossed the Demons... She used the powers of the crests to seal the seven remaining Zodiac while Liam used a spell he found god knows where to break the dimension apart and seal Dragomon and his monstrosities along with Heller away in what is now the dark ocean... That night they betrayed the Sovereign. They used powers they were never supposed to have, Liam stole one of Azulongmon's power cores to give more power to his Generals, and Exer reneged on her deal with the Demon Lords... And it worked... The war ended... However the spell they used to create the shadow dimension broke the world into the seven layers it is today." Gennai finished.

"That really is an incredible story" Yolei said sounding awestruck.

"It sounds like those two can't be trusted" Davis added.

"I guess by that story you probably can't" Gennai said laughing. "You try being in a war that lasts for decades and see if you don't wanna break a rule or two to end it."

"So what happened after the war?" Tai asked.

"Well Liam fully expected to die where he last fought Heller... While he was unconscious Exer sent him back home to live for a while... She said he'd been here to long... The Sovereign struck a truce with Zhuqiaomon, Exer and I started trying to pick up the pieces and rebuild the world one piece at a time. After a while Liam found his way back to us... And eventually when the world was threatened we brought forth you" Gennai said as the room glowed once more with blue light before reverting to what it had originally looked like. "But those are tales for another time."

_**A/N:Sorry if this chapter had to much exposition in it but I couldn't find another way to do it. Oh and if it seemed like Exer wasn't in very much of the **__**back story it's because she was more vital in the rebuilding portion of the history that I haven't elaborated on yet. Anyway hope you like it and as always whether you did or didn't please review and let me know.**_


	9. Time

**A/N: Sorry to anyone who read the last chapter when it was first posted. As Count Morningstar pointed out to me a review the name of the entity at the dark ocean is Dragomon not Daigomon as I originally had in the previous chapter. I'm not sure why I thought that was his name but anyway. I have since fixed it but I figured I should mention it so that people don'e get confused when the name changes.**

**Worlds Apart**

Chapter 9: Time

"I hope I was some help to you" Gennai said as he opened the door to allow them outside.

"Well at least now we know what we're up against... Do you know where they live?" Tai asked.

"Sorry Tai... They move around... No telling where they are right now" Gennai added, averting his eyes.

"For what it's worth... Liam and Exer might be trying to use you to get something done... But I don't think they're evil" Gennai added as the group walked away. No one gave him a reply. They were all buried to deep in thought. They reached the top of the ridge where they had all met and sat down under the large tree again.

"So... Where do we stand?" Cody asked. "As far as I can tell we aren't really any better off then when we started."

"We know more about them then we did this morning and that's a good thing" Izzy said, rubbing his forehead.

"I think for now we should wait" Tai said abruptly.

"You want us to just wait so they have more time to prepare for whatever it is they're preparing for?" Davis asked in disbelief.

"We've beaten back their monsters... Balls in their court now... I agree with Tai" Ken said, stretching.

"We can't just wait around while these... things plot against us!" Davis insisted.

"You think we should fight them?" Kari asked sarcastically. "Look Davis they aren't working overtly against us... At least as far as we know, so for the time being the only thing we really can do is wait. Even if we wanted to fight them where the hell do they live? I doubt they're in the yellow pages."

"I agree with Davis actually" Rika chipped in. "I think we should at least try to find these two and talk to them."

"And if they attack and try to kill us?" Yolei asked warily.

"Look guys I agree they're shady but so far they haven't done anything other then help us" Matt said exasperatedly. "If the time comes when we need to put them down we will. Until then I think we should assume they're on our side and assume their plan will benefit us."

"Fair point" Henry said, looking at Matt.

"I haven't heard anyone explain how the hell we're even supposed to find them yet" Takato said. A moment later she snatched her D-Arc from her belt and began looking through the functions on it.

"What are you-" T.K. began to ask.

"Liam mentioned something yesterday about us being able to contact them through our D-Arcs... But it looks like it's just an e-mail address" Takato concluded, sounding disappointed.

"Well then I guess we should send them an e-mail and ask to meet... Everyone agree?" Tai asked. There was a general murmur of approval.

"I'll contact them and send you guys the details" Takato said, checking his watch. "And now if you guys don't mind it's nearly seven o'clock so we should probably all get home." The group said their good bye's and departed. The tamers landed back in Rika's living room.

"I should probably go" Takato said immediately. "I snuck out last night to fight that monster so I'm gonna have hell to pay for this one."

"I can give you a ride home if you like" Henry said.

"Well I'll see you two later." Rika said as the two turned and left.

"So... What were you doing at Rika's house so early this morning?" Henry asked snickering as he turned the key to his car.

"Nothing like what you're thinking I was doing" Takato said flatly.

"What did you think he was doing?" Terriermon asked from the backseat.

"Uh I'll explain later Terriermon" Henry said, regretting he had brought up the subject.

"I went with Liam after the battle last night to check on Rika. Exer did some weird stuff that was supposed to heal some of injuries so I wanted to stay and make sure she hadn't poisoned her or anything" Takato said.

"So that's why you didn't go home last night" Henry laughed. "That's gonna go over really well with your parents."

"Henry... If they kill... Bring Guilmon bread will you?" Takato asked.

"Will do" Henry said as he pulled up in front of the Matsuki bakery. Takato climbed out and the car departed. Takato stepped inside and knew immediately he had crossed a hard line. His parents were sitting at the kitchen table. His mother had her hands behind her head, leaning back and his father was resting his head on his hands. They were both looking straight at them.

"Uh hey Mom... Dad" Takato said awkwardly.

"Do you have any idea how worried we were?" his mother asked. She sounded as though she was trying not to cry.

"I'm sorry but I had to... There was a Digimon that would've destroyed my friends if I hadn't gone" Takato said. Despite the fact that he felt justified in leaving, the pain in his mothers voice sent him on a guilt trip. "Look Mom... Dad... There's a chance that soon something might happen... Nothing like the D-Reaper but still something bad... If it does then I'm going to have to be a large part of it... With or without your approval." Takato expected his parents to be angry or scared, he never could've predicted what happened next.

"Look Takato" his father said in a resigned voice. "You've grown up a lot faster then we wanted you to have to... Hell you work at a government agency and your still a few month shy of seventeen... I guess what I'm trying to say is... Whether we like it or not... Your a man now... And I guess we need to treat you like one." Takato blinked thinking he must be halucinating.

"Uh... Seriously?" Takato asked in amazement. 

"We've been treating you like you're just an average teenager... But you aren't... You and your friends are exceptional and I guess it's time we give you the space to do what you need to do" his mother said still sounding emotional. "But whatever happens Takato. You're still my little boy you know!" Takato walked over and hugged his mother.

"I think she's trying to tell you to leave a note next time" his father added. After a moment Takato let his mother go.

"I'll try to remember that" Takato said.

"So what's this danger we might be in?" his other asked. Takato sighed knowing it would take a long time to explain the events of the passed few days.

Meanwhile in the digital world Gennai was trying to get some answers of his own. He dropped out of a data field in front of a large mansion. Gennai walked up and without knocking threw the doors open as hard as he could. They banged against the walls causing a loud crashing sound as we walked in.

"LIAM!" Gennai yelled.

"You know we have this new technology... It's called a door bell." Liam said from near by. Gennai looked over to see Liam sitting in a large reclining chair with his feet up, reading a book. It was the first time in a while Gennai had seen Liam wear anything other then his trench coat. Today he was clad in a pair of blue jeans and a black t-shirt. Liam set the book aside looking up at his old friend.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Gennai asked angrily, walking towards him.

"Reading "All Quiet on the Western Front"" Liam said in a would be casual tone.

"You know what I meant!" Gennai said still nearly yelling. "With the children! The tamers and the children!"

"As I understand the tamers are still children themselves by most peoples standards and you can drop the blind rage thing... The yelling is getting annoying." Liam said in an even tone. "And how did you find out about that anyway?" Gennai took several calming breathes before he spoke again.

"They came to me... Together asking questions about you and Exer... They said you brought them together... What the hell are you thinking?" Gennai asked. "You know it's one of the Sovereigns most fundamental laws... The worlds must know NOTHING of one another!"

"Yeah because listening to the Sovereign has worked out so well for me in the past!" Liam spat back. Anger flaring up at the mention of the Sovereign. "I think if I see fit for the worlds protectors to know about each other then they will know! And if the Sovereign don't like it they can find themselves another pawn."

"And what if they do?" Gennai asked harshly. "What if they destroy you both and whatever the hell this is comes to nothing?"

"Then it amounts to the same thing!" Liam was the one shouting now. "For too long we've been playing this game. Them looking down on us from their fortresses in the sky. Gennai I've had enough of picking up the pieces! I have a chance to get ahead of something here and I'm going to... If you feel like you have to tell the Sovereign then do so... We won't blame you... But don't come in to my house acting indignant because I defied the Gods you so foolishly place all your trust in!" Liam finished breathing heavily.

"So this is what it's come to?" Gennai asked.

"You can either be loyal to me or loyal to them" Liam said coldly.

"What the hell is this plan supposed to accomplish anyway?" Gennai asked.

"I can't tell you" Liam said, turning away.

"From what they told me, you've been trying to kill them" Gennai said. "And I know that's not true."

"We've been trying to get rid of some of our old enemy's... We've been having them fight them for us" Liam said, picking his words very carefully.

"It sounds to me like your just toying with them" Gennai concerned. "You and Exer are much stronger now then you were them. If you wanted the Zodiac dead... They'd be dead."

"That's not exactly true... Anyway I promise there's a larger plan at work here" Liam replied, turning to face Gennai again. "I'll understand if you go to Azulongmon with this... But it won't change anything."

"Just tell-" Gennai began before a loud bang interrupted him. Exer threw one of the doors open and slumped against the door frame. It was dark outside now and it was raining hard outside. Exer's clothes were soaked through. She had the look of someone who was on the loosing end of a fight. Several cuts ran across her face, her clothes were torn in various places and her eye's were a deep blood red. She took another step forward and began to fall forward.

Liam moved over to catch in a flash. He turned her in his arms so he could carry her over the couch but she cringed pushed him away. She hit the floor hard, landing on her side. Gennai saw a large number of black stingers, at least half an inch in diameter protruding from her back around her should blade. Blood was seeping out from around them. Liam saw them too. Gennai and Liam each got under one of her arms and carried her over to where she could sit down in the one of the nearby chairs. She sat with the back of the chair in front of her. Resting her chin on it. Liam pulled her cloak off before walking away towards the bar in the room..

"The hell happened to you?" Gennai asked amazed. He hadn't seen her in this much pain since the Demon revolts during the rebuilding of the digital world.

"I went to visit some old friends... They weren't happy to see me" Exer said through gritted teeth. Liam returned with a large knife and a mason jar full of clear liquid.

"You're seriously doing this?" Gennai asked in disbelief as Liam dipped the knife in what Gennai knew was moonshine before passing the jar to Exer who took a large drink.

"You got a better plan MacGyver?" Liam asked.

"No" Gennai admitted after a moment. Liam cut away what remained of the back of her shirt so he could get at the stingers easier before seleting one and trying to excise it.

"So Gennai... What brings you here?" Exer asked before biting her tongue to avoid screaming as the first stinger came out. Blood poured down her back.

"Talking to Liam about what you two are planing with the destined children and the tamers" Gennai said. Exer game him a look of confusion just before Liam cut another stinger out and she let out a hair raising scream.

"How do you know?" Exer asked, blinking away tears.

"They came to me and asked me about you" Gennai replied. He couldn't believe he was having this conversation under these circumstances.

"Smart kids" Exer said. She gritted her teeth again as another stinger was pulled.

"Sorry... These things have barbs on them so I either have to cut or tear them free" Liam said as Exer trembled.

"It's okay... Are the wounds healing?" Exer asked.

"No they don't appear to be clotting" Liam said working on another stinger.

"The hell were you doing at the dark ocean anyway?" Gennai asked. Exer gave him a curious look. "I recognize those kinds of stingers... The only things that shoot those poisonous stingers are Dragomon's DarkWaspmon"

"I can't say" Exer said, turning her head to look the other way.

"What can either of you?" Gennai asked angrily.

"Nothing... and you should leave" Liam said as he toar the last stinger out of Exer's back and she let out another scream. "I forgot this poison makes healing them by normal means nearly impossible... I'm gonna have to sear them shut and I don't think you want to see that again." Liam said darkly.

The memory Liam was refering to came back to Gennai instantly. He could see Exer laying face down on a table with her back slashed open and blood pouring out. He could see the two Knightmon holding her arms down as Liam approached with a handful of red fire. He could hear her screams begging him to make the pain stop. Gennai shook his head. "Very well" Gennai said. He then turned and departed without another word.

"Think he's remember what we're remembering?" Exer asked.

"I know he is... That's why I reminded him of it... Certainly not one of our most glorious moments" Liam replied.

"Compared to that this should be easy" Exer said as she felt Liam create the fire he needed. She pulled part of her cloak up and bit down hard on it as he touched the fire to her skin. It only took a few minutes for Liam to burn the wounds shut. It was something he had gotten a lot of practice at over the years.

"You want anything?" Liam asked.

"I want this shit to be over" Exer said spitting out the cloth she had bitten down on.

"I know... I do too" Liam said softly. "Did you get what we need?"

"A dozen ampules of black water... I didn't want to get them out in front of Gennai but they're in the pocket of my cloak." Exer said resting her head on the back rest of the chair.

"Okay... We're going to have to speed things up now since Gennai's involved... But for now you need to rest" Liam said. He helped Exer off of the chair. When acted as though she might fall again he stepped in front of her. "Put your arms around my neck so I can carry you without touching your wounds". Under normal circumstances Exer would have been too proud for such treatment. However between the pain, poison, exhaustion and alcohol she decided it wasn't worth refusing. Liam carried her upstairs to their bedroom.

"Thanks" Exer said weakly. She let go of his neck and let herself fall onto the bed. Almost instantly sleep overcame her. Liam chuckled. He pulled the covers over her and switched off the lights on his way out. Liam jumped the banister and landed next to where he had laid the cloak Exer had been wearing when she returned. He found the ampules exactly where she said they would be. He took 6 of the glass tubes that were filled with a jet black substance that no one would have believed was water.

"I'm sorry this couldn't be done differently T.K." Liam muttered to himself as he pocketed the objects. "But it looks like we're just about out of time."

**A/N: Whether you love it or hate it please review it and let me know!**


	10. Strong

**Worlds Apart**

**Chapter 10: Strong**

More then a week had passed since their last trip into the digital world. They had all more of less recovered from the fight with Mithunamon and were starting to wonder when there would be another attack. They had decided to clue Shibumi in on what they had found out. The three of them along with Ryo, and Shibumi had met at a coffee house near Hypnos. They had left their Digimon at home to avoid drawing attention. With the exception of Rika, however Rnamon was quite skilled at keeping out of sight.

"That's an incredible story" Shibumi said in amazement. Takato had been recounting to him what Gennai had told them.

"It sounds to me like those two can't be trusted" Ryo commented.

"That much we've settled on, but there really isn't a lot we can do except wait" Rika said, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Did anyone notice the comments about graves and dead bodies?" Henry said abruptly. He had been silent since the beginning of the story.

"The thing about Liam being a good leader?" Takato asked.

"Digimon dissolve into data when they die... How could he have buried of burned bodies?" Ryo asked suspiciously.

"Good point... someones lying" Takato said sounding puzzled. "But what could they gain from a lie like that?"

"Look if we're gonna believe that the digital world used to be one layer and have a fifth god then we can probably assume some things changed between then and now" Rika interjected very firmly. "I'm pretty sure we can write that one off as not knowing 'exactly' what happened during this war."

"What do you think Shibumi?" Henry asked. Shibumi had been resting his chin in his hand with a look of mild interest on his face.

"I think you might be looking at this the wrong way." Shibumi answered slowly. "You've all made up your minds that these creatures are against you... Why?"

"The whole unleashing creatures to try to kill us is the major point for me" Takato said flatly.

"They released these creatures against you... And yet they seem to have given you a bit of help with them... What makes you think they aren't just trying to rid the world of their old foes? Or, perhaps more likely why don't you think this is all just a test?" Shibumi asked shrewdly. The four looked at each other in slight astonishment.

"But why would they test us?" Ryo asked indignantly. "We beat the D-Reaper... That should be proof enough of our strength!"

"Maybe it isn't our bodies they're testing... What if it's our minds or our hearts?" Takato asked.

"Still doesn't answer why" Henry responded.

"I'm pretty sure beating the D-reaper proved those things too" Ryo replied.

"This is-" Takato broke off as he felt a weight hit his shoulder. Rika appeared to have fallen asleep and slumped side ways onto him. He shook his arm discretely and Rika's head snapped up as everyone looked around.

"This is?" Ryo prompted.

"This is pointless" Takato continued a little embarrassed. "We're just gonna have to wait and try to get some answers the next time we see those two."

"I think that's really your only option" Shibumi said, standing up. "Thank you for the information and let me know how this turns out... I need to get back to work." Shibumi laid enough money on the table to cover their drinks, bid them goodbye and departed.

"Rika, what's up?" Ryo asked a little concerned. "You've been half asleep most of the time we've been here and you don't look to good."

"It's... It's nothing I'm sure" Rika said unconvincingly.

"Try it again with a little conviction and maybe we'll believe you" Henry joked.

"Serously Rika... You can tell us anything" Takato added kindly. Rika looked around and sighed. She still wasn't used to the idea of letting others try to help her with her problems. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.

"I've been having these... Nightmares... Ever since that battle with Mithunamon... I dream I'm on corpse strewn battle fields, underneath skies painted red by fire... I see all kinds of Digimon fighting and slaughtering one another... But it's not like a dream... I always feel like I'm actually there but I have no control over it... It's like I'm watching it through another persons eyes... And those are the better ones" Rika finished opening her eyes. She looked around and could see all three of the boys looking at her with their mouths hanging open.

"Wow" Ryo said after a minute or two of awkward silence. "No wonder your falling asleep all the time."

"What are the worse ones?" Henry asked.

"Don't make her-" Takato began defensively.

"No I was about tell anyway... Those are worse because it's about us... In one we're fighting someone who looks like Liam... It's the four of us and the Digidestined... But it's weird... I saw Sakuyamon fighting... But I wasn't inside her. The man we were fighting had two henchmen who's faces I couldn't see... They beat us and was about to finish us when there was an explosion and I woke up... The other dream we were standing in a huge cathedral sort of place... Big like one and it had stained glass. There was another man there and he was offering T.K. a sword. I remember him saying something about the blood of angels... In that dream we were knocked around pretty badly... I'm not sure what any of it means but I feel like... Like it all means something" Rika finished shaking her head.

"I know they're disturbing but that doesn't necessarily mean anything" Henry commented. "It could just be a reaction to all the stress of the last ten days."

"Maybe... You're probably right" Rika replied, suddenly wishing she hadn't told them.

"I don't think we should dismiss it that easily" Ryo said as Rika stood up.

"I... I think I'm gonna go... It looks like it might rain and I don't like driving my motorcycle in the rain... Bye" Rika said, hastily exiting the building. Before any of the boys could give chase she had climbed on her motorcycle and departed. While Rika was recounting her nightmares, in another world T.K. was living one.

_T.K. was standing in a dark room, his back to a large pillar. Torches with red fire were placed on the walls, giving the enormous room an ominous glow. Dark cloth hung from the walls with insignia's he didn't recognize. He couldn't remember how he had gotten there or why. All he knew was that he was in danger. A moment later dozens of rock shards struck the back of the pillar he was hiding behind causing it to crumble and a cloud of dust to fly out. T.K. felt himself move __with lighting speed to another pillar. It was strange, he was looking through his own eyes but didn't seem to be able to control himself. _

_ "Why are you running?" A voice demanded. "You chased me down here to kill me didn't you?"_

_ "I came here to make you pay for what you've done!" T.K. felt his mouth acting of it's own accord. The loss of control frightened him. The voice laughed rather sourly. _

_ "What I've done to all of you?" The voice asked jokingly. T.K. knew that voice, but couldn't quite place it. "What about what you did to me? Taking away everything I cared about, everything that ever meant anything to me!" A shadowy figure moved quickly and struck the column. T.K. moved faster then he would've thought possible and unsheathed a sword of blinding silver. He brought it down with his full weight on the man who had barely pulled his broad sword from the pillar in time. By the dim light of the torches T.K. could see the man was wearing some sort of battle armor, all black and trimmed in silver with a matching cloak. The hood was pulled up so he couldn't see his face. The man repelled him, turning his sword and knocking T.K.'s out of his hand. Again T.K. moved faster then seemed physically possible. This time to a crouching position behind some sort of pool at the far end of the room. _

_ "Don't try to put this on us... You did it because you wanted power!" T.K. shouted, his voice echoing in the cavernous room. "Can't you see you're being used?"_

_ "He would've killed me if I hadn't joined him!" The man __shouted back, his voice echoing. _

_ "Then you should have died!" T.K. roared back. "You should have died rather then turn your back on your friends! Just as we would've done for you!" T.K. jumped onto the side of the square pool and somehow pulled the water into the air. He pushed his arms out and sent a tidal wave at the man who was blasted backwards into the wall. T.K. flattened his hands and turned them so their palms were facing up. The water around the man froze, leaving only his head free. T.K. jumped across the pool and brandished his sword as he landed. He walked slowly towards the man who struggled but could not escape._

_ "You should've known... If he didn't kill you... I would!" T.K. suddenly realized what he was about to do. His mind raced and jerked trying to pull himself out of this. His arm wasn't responding. His arm drew back and was about to slice through the mans throat. "NO!" T.K. thought frantically "what is this?"_

T.K. sat bolt up right a scream escaping him. He gulped loudly sucking in air as he stared around. He was sitting on the couch in his mothers apartment. The T.V. Was on showing some cartoon. A moment later he remembered. He had been waiting for Kari to come over. They were going to hang out and try to unwind, after everything that had happened recently everyone was so on edge. He put his hand to his forehead and wiped away several bullets of icy sweat.

"T.K. are you alright?" Patamon asked frantically flying into the room with Kari behind him.

"I'm fi- What the?" T.K. asked at Kari's presence.

"I was knocking on the door and Patamon said it was okay if I came in... We heard you scream is everything alright?" Kari asked looking concerned.

"Just... Just another nightmare" T.K. said moving over so she could sit down beside him. Gatomon jumped onto the coffee table as T.K. buried his head in his hands.

"Figure anything out about this one?" Gatomon asked.

"Just me fighting someone... Though I did talk this time" T.K. replied. He had been having these dreams for several day's now. It was making it nearly impossible for him to get any good sleep. The early dreams had been bad but not like this. Those had been bad, but now they were becoming more vivid.

"What did you say?" Kari asked putting her arm around him.

"Something about someone betraying us... and... and that I was going to kill them" T.K. said with some hesitation.

"That doesn't sound like you... Are you sure it wasn't someone else?" Patamon asked.

"I don't know... what does all this mean!" T.K. yelled slamming his fist on the table. Gatomon had expected this and had moved to the opposite end. Lack of sleep and the fear of these dreams had made T.K. quite irritable. "Maybe it's nothing... Maybe I'm just losing my mind."

"That's what I thought when I had those dreams about the Dark Ocean... And we all know how that turned out." Kari said laughing somewhat coldly. The memory of those things kidnapping her wasn't a something she often talked about. "If you think these dreams mean something then there's a good chance they might... After we aren't exactly what you call 'normal'"

"I guess you're right... These dreams just scare me... Especially the ones your in... I don't know what I'd do if I let anything happen to you" T.K. said pushing the thought away.

"I'm gonna let the fact that you insinuated that I can't take care of myself slide since I know you meant well" Kari said moving in front of him and pulling into a hug. "I love you T.K. and whatever these dreams mean, if they mean anything. We'll deal with it the same was we always have. She pulled back and kissed him. After a moment the two broke apart. "As long as I've got you, Gatomon and Tai I'm not too worried about what those dreams of yours mean."

"You always know exactly what to say to make me feel better... Just one of the reasons why love you so much." T.K. said in a tired voice. The two laughed at how cheesy their conversation had to sound before T.K. picked up the remote and started looking for something that they could watch. Not long into their selected show however T.K. was fast asleep again. This time without any dreams, it wouldn't be long before the dreams meaning would be revearled.

That night Rika laid in her bed tossing and turning. Despite how tired she was she didn't want to fall asleep. She didn't want to return to those horrible places. She didn't want to feel powerless again.

"Rika... You need to sleep" Renamon said from her corner as Rika rolled over to face her again.

"I can't..." Rika said sounding scared.

"It's not like you to be afraid Rika" Renamon said in her usual tone. "What is it about these dreams that frightens you so much."

"I... I'm starting to wonder if they're visions of another world" Rika replied. She had been mulling over the theory for several days but hadn't mentioned it. Even to her it sounded a bit odd. There being other worlds was a fact but could there be alternate universes where her and her friends existed. She was afraid the others would think she had lost it if she suggested it. Though that didn't sound so far fetched after meeting her favorite cartoon characters a few weeks ago.

"It makes as much sense as any theory I suppose" Renamon said. "I know you're scared but you can't let this effect you so much."

"I just don't know what to do" Rika said, rolling over again so that she couldn't see Renamon anymore.

"Would you sleep better if Takato was here?" Renamon asked jokingly. Rika sat up, but was saved the trouble of responding her D-Arc lit up. Rika threw off her blanket and walked over to her desk. She picked up her D-Arc expecting to see a map to a near by Digimon. However a moment later the light got brighter and began to expand forming a small data field around her.

"RIKA!" Renamon yelled jumping towards her. She was a second to late and Rika vanished in a storm of data.

Rika felt herself falling through darkness that seemed endless. She spun round and round losing all sense of direction. A moment later she slammed into solid ground hard and her knees buckled. She threw out her hands and managed to catch herself. She drew in a deep breath and raised her head. Rika had landed in the middle of a forest. There was something not quite right about it though. Everyone one of the 20 foot tall trees seemed to be dead and completely devoid of vegetation. The it self seemed to be dry and dark, cracks forming webs between trees. The sole source of light was the full moon over head. Rika stood up brushing herself off. She tried to use her D-Arc to transport back home but it didn't seem to be working. No matter what she did the screen showed an error.

"Piece of junk" Rika muttered, looking around. The forest was filled with an eerie silence that made her uneasy. She had landed in the middle of what seemed to be a road leading toward the heart of the forest. She began walking down the road constantly looking around for any signs of life. The deeper she got into the forest the more uneasy she became. Soon her mind began to bring back the memories of the dreams. The hellish visions flashed before her eye's as she walked on. She couldn't explain it but somehow she felt like she needed to reach the end of this road.

The visions worsened as she closed in on the heart of the forest. Soon they had transcended memories and were showing her things she had never seen before. Visions of herself alone, visions of herself dieing. Suddenly the landscape around her changed. She was standing in the middle of some kind of castle court yard. In front of her was Renamon talking to... Her? Rika's heart pounded. There was a version of her standing not 10 feet away. This Rika looked different she wore a suit of armor and had some kind of weapon on her back.

"I didn't have a choice!" the Rika in front of her said.

"Of coarse you had a choice!" Renamon said angrily. "You didn't trust me... And because of that we lost half a battalion for nothing!"

"We held the line!" Rika snapped back.

"At what cost?" Renamon asked sharply. "And for how long can we hold it without them? You have to think more than one battle ahead Rika!"

"I don't need this" Rika said turning away.

"Then I guess you don't need me!" Renamon said, her voice full of malice. The armored Rika turned and mirrored the expression of the Rika watching the events unfold. "Best of luck in your battles... General". With that Renamon turned and vanished.

"No! Come back!" Both Rika's cried at once. At that moment the scene changed and Rika was back in the cursed forest. She dropped to her knees, tears streaming down her face. Renamon had abandoned her. It didn't matter that it was only a vision. Rika felt as though a knife had been run into her stomach. Renamon had been the first person she could count on to accept her and be there no matter what.

"If that was real... Then..." Rika thought for a moment. She pushed the thought of Renamon leaving her away and stood up. She wasn't going to let this place mess with her head. Somehow she knew, if only she could get to the heart of this place she would understand.

On the far side of the world T.K. was faced with a very different problem. He too had been transported to the Digital World against his will. However he knew exactly who was responsible. He was in an area very similar to the one Rika was in. He had landed next to a lake filled with black water. Dead trees were scattered around the edge of the lake. In the center of the lake was a small island with a massive oak tree on it. The whole area wreaked of darkness. T.K. had developed something of a sixth sense after all of his previous encounters with demons.

"Who are you!" T.K. yelled his voice splitting the creepy silence like the crack of a whipe. "Why did you bring me here?"

"You already know who I am T.K." a voice said from the dark waters. A figure was rising out of the lake. T.K. had frozen in place as his blood turned to ice. He knew that voice. So calm and malevolent.

"Devimon" T.K. said as the tall dark figure unfurled two enormous bat like wings. His body was almost completely black with the exception of the area around his mouth, a skull tattoo on his shoulder and his dark red eyes.

"So glad you could make it" Devimon said, laughing. The sound sent a shiver down T.K.'s spine.

"Why did you bring me here?" T.K. asked keeping his voice even.

"Who said I brought you here?" Devimon asked in return. "It was merely suggested to me that I be here at this moment and that there was a strong likely hood that you would be here as well."

"You figured this would be the perfect time to kill me... When I don't have anyone here to make it a fair fight" T.K. said trying to keep the fear out of his voice.

"Whoever said I was going to kill you?" Devimon asked, he knew he was getting under T.K.'s skin. "Nooo... Nooo I don't want to kill you... At least... Not yet... No first I think I'll take away some of your friends... You see death is far to good for you T.K... I want you to suffer a bit first." It dawned on T.K. what he was talking about.

"You leave them out of this!" T.K. said, feeling angrier then he could ever remember feeling.

"No" Devimon replied simply, flying over T.K.'s head and landing a few feet from the lake. "You pathetic friends all opposed me... Even if it wouldn't hurt you I'd still be going after them... I think I'll get Tai first... Or maybe your brother" T.K.'s eye's widened at the mention of his only sibling. "Either one really, they're both the strongest of the group." T.K. felt his anger turn to hatred as it surged through his veins. He wanted Patamon there. He wanted him to fight Devimon. He wanted him to kill him. T.K. stared down at his reflection on the surface of the dark water. He could feel it calling out to him, offering him his wish, offering him power.

"No" T.K. muttered quietly. "i won't let him get to me, I won't do it."

"Or maybe I should kill Cody first... After all he is your DNA digivolution partner isn't he? He wasn't there during our first battle but helping you is reason enough for me to end him" Devimon continued ignoring T.K.'s continued muttering.

Again T.K. felt the darkness calling out to him, offering him the power he wanted so badly. "I can't... I can't let it take me... But if I don't" T.K. pushed the thoughts away as he dropped to his knees and shut his eye's trying to not listen to Devimon.

"But of coarse I intend to kill them all... I actually already know who I'm going to choose... I plan to kill the women first" T.K.'s eye's snapped open. "Starting with Kari".

Devimon had done it. He had gone to far. T.K. plunged his hand into the dark water and willed it to give him the strength he needed. He felt power like he had never known coursing through his body. T.K. stood and in one quick movement turned swinging his arm. "Chain of the underworld!" T.K. roared as a black chain wrapped in fire materialized continuing from his hand. The chain swung out and twisted around Devimon's neck. T.K. focused all of his energy into that appendage and a moment later Devimon's head was severed from his body and flopped off as his body fell over backwards.

T.K.'s mouth fell open and his arm dropped to his side as the chain vanished. His anger evaporated just as quickly as it had come. Devimon's body wasn't dissolving. T.K. stared at it, his mind racing. Why did it bother him? He'd seen Digimon kill Digimon before, but there was something different about doing it yourself. T.K looked down at the hand that had wielded the chain and was surprised to find that it was unharmed. T.K. didn't feel bad for having killed Devimon, the things he had said made it clear to T.K. that he had no option but to do it. The fact that he had used the powers of darkness to do it was what scared him. He hadn't killed Devimon because he knew someone was in mortal danger. He had killed him in anger, and in pain. He had killed him because in that one moment he hated Devimon enough to stoop to his level.

"It's different" said a voice to his left. "The fist time you do it yourself." T.K. turned to see Liam approaching him.

"Very" T.K. said quietly. "I'm guessing you set all this up?"

"Yeah... I'm sorry he had to be done like this... But I had to make sure that when push came to shove you would have what it takes." Liam replied sounding genuinely remorseful.

"Why isn't he dissolving?" T.K. asked, the sight of the body was bothering him.

"This area has been corrupted and isn't functioning properly... Hang on" Liam pulled three ampules of what looked like water from his pocket, uncorked them and tossed them into the lake. From the ampules light seemed to spread. Purifying the water, then the shore and finally the trees. As the wave of purification reached them Devimon's body dissolved and T.K.'s pajamas changed to the clothes he always wore in the Digital World.

"So... What do we do now?" T.K. asked finally coming out of the shock of having killed a Digimon first hand.

"You come with me" Liam said as if he was speaking to an old friend. "I've got a lot of explaining to do... But you'll have to wait just a bit longer... There's someone else who'll be joining us." Liam turned and waved his hand. The crest on the back of it glowed and a white portal opened.

"Where are we going?" T.K. asked.

"You wouldn't believe me If I told you" Liam replied jokingly as the two stepped into the portal side by side.

In the forest of dark allusions Rika was slowly making her way toward the center. Over time her resolve had begun to weaken, bolstered only by the thought of seeing her friends again. That had kept her going until the voice had started.

"Your weak" it said. It seemed to come from everywhere. "Your weak and you know it."

"I'm strong!" Rika said resiliently, unsure if the voice was real or in her head.

"You say your strong and yet you can barely stop crying" the voice called back, dripping with pleasure. "You think Renamon will want such a weak partner?"

"Renamon will never leave me!" Rika said defiently.

"The way your father would never leave you?" The voice asked. Rika froze in place. "Yes I know quite a lot about you Rika. I know about your mother that doesn't accept you."

"She does now!" Rika said taking another step forward.

"Then why doesn't she make time to get to know you better?" The voice retaliated sounding amused now. "She doesn't really care about you or who you are... Your father has cut you out of his life completely... In the end Renamon is only with you so she can become stronger!" Rika began to sprint down the path tears streaming down her face. "Sure your friends care now... But what will happen if Renamon leaves you? Will they want a non-tamer in their group? Even if they do, a few more years and you'll all grow apart anyway." Rika crashed through a large black hedge, tripping and falling face first into a clearing. She landed on all fours as the high cold voice laughed mercilessly. Rika drew in several deep breaths, gathering her thoughts. She raised her head. In the center of the clearing was a women dressed in black with bat like wings, red eye's and a skull tattoo on one side of her chest. Rika recognized her as LadyDevimon.

"What do you want from me?" Rika asked.

"Nothing... I dont' want anything you can give me" LadyDevimon answered malevolently. "I want to show you how weak you truly are... Wait until everyone hears how weak the great Rika truly was." LadyDevimon walked toward her raising a claw. Rika was terrified. She had never faced an enemy like this alone before... But she had. She suddenly remembered IceDevimon's attempt to get her to tame him. Renamon had come to her rescue but she didn't seem like she was coming this time. Takato and Henry had tried to help her too. As the memories flooded her mind she realized the truth.

"I'm strong..." Rika muttered to low to be heard. "I'm strong..." she repeated, eliciting a laugh from LadyDevimon. "I'm strong!" she shouted standing up. LadyDevimon stopped dead in her tracks, surprised that she had beaten her spell. "You say Renamon wants a strong partner? Well I don't think you know what real strength is! You say my friends and I will grow apart? Maybe so... But I wouldn't miss the time we have left for anything!" Rika took a step forward and a strange white light appeared around her. LadyDevimon took a step backwards, slightly scared of the aura. "It's true I don't see my Dad much and my Mom doesn't quite 'get me' but guess what? My friends like me, my family likes me! I can't see the future but come hell or high water I'll be there for them and they'll be there for me! So come get me witch, lets see who the weakling is!" Rika wasn't sure what had come over her. Forgetting that LadyDevimon was an Ultimate level Digimon and she was a lanky sixteen year old girl she charge forward drew back her fist and delivered a crashing blow to LadyDevimon's face.

LadyDevimon flew backwards landing on her back. She couldn't understand how a human could have so much power. The aura of light was growing stronger, but she was still only human. "Chew on this... Darkness Wave" LadyDevimon cried sending a wave of dark energy at Rika. There was a flash of light as Exer appeared in front of Rika. With one hand she knocked the attack away, sending into a tree that crumbled as it connected. In a split second Exer was only a foot away from LadyDevimon. Exer plunged her hand straight through her chest, right were a heart would have been on a human. After a moment Rika saw the fire of life die out in her eye's. Exer retracted her hand and threw the body toward the center of the clearing.

"Sorry about that" Exer said turning to face Rika. "You probably could've taken her but I thought it'd be best if I stepped in."

"How did you know?" Rika asked.

"I've been watching you Rika... I'm the one who brought you here tonight... I wanted you to face her... I wanted to know just how strong your resistance to darkness is" Exer replied.

"Your the one who put me through all of this?" Rika asked outraged.

"Calm down Rika... I know it seems cruel but I had to make sure you were strong enough for the journey ahead... And you most certainly are" Exer said calmly. She reached inside her cloak and removed several ampules. She launched them into the middle of the clearing where they shattered and sent a wave of purification across the area. A second later she waved her hand and a portal appeared. "It's time to go Rika."

"Go where?" Rika asked suspiciously.

"The Hall of Heroes" Exer said dramatically as the two entered the portal.

_**A/N: Sorry it took so long but this chapter was fairly challenging to write. As always enjoy andreview, however I actually have a specific question for you guys. How do you think I'm doing on the level of detail in this story? I kind of feel like some of my scenes aren't detailed enough. Let me know what you think. **_


	11. The Hall of Heroes

**A/N: Special thanks to Count Morningstar for his constant reviews and insight. This is the final chapter in this story. I will be writing a sequel and it will be much darker then this story was. Also thank you for continueing to read in spite of all my grammatical erros and missing words... I keep finding mistakes when I re-read old chapters but if I keep fixing and updating them I'll never get anything new written. Without further ado!**

**Worlds Apart**

**Chapter 11: The Hall of Heroes**

Rika and Exer came out of the portal into a large white room with a high ceiling. Liam and T.K. were standing a few feet away next to a set of large wooden doors. "Sorry we're late." Exer said as they walked towards them.

"We've only been here about five minutes so no big deal." Liam replied, turning and positioning himself in the middle of the two wooden doors.

"Now will you tell us what all this is about?" T.K. asked sounding impatient. Liam chuckled and threw open the doors with a resounding bang.

"Welcome to the Hall of Heroes" Liam said. In front of them was a magnificent room that looked rather like a cathedral. Wide with high ceilings like the first room, but this room had shimmering white walls that formed archways over head with glittering chandeliers displaying a brilliant white light overhead. Along each of the walls there was a series of large windows with stained glass in them that formed vague pictures of people in various positions. The sides seemed to favor certain colors. The windows on the right side seemed to favor yellow while the one along the opposite wall favored white. Rika also noticed that there were several windows along the left wall that were blank.

"Amazing" T.K. said sounding awe struck. "But you still didn't explain what you want from us."

"How old would you say we are?" Exer asked.

"I thought you were never supposed to guess at a woman's age" T.K. said laughing.

"I'll give you a pass this time" Exer said giggling.

"Well you both look about twenty-five... But Gennai told us you both have eternal youth so we know you're considerably older then that... And considering the fact that Apocolamon messed up the way time passed here for a while I couldn't begin to guess." T.K. said, still looking around.

"Pretty sharp of you to piece all that together" Liam said as he began to walk through the room toward an ornate door at the opposite end. "I was born October first seventeen-fifty." Rika gasped slightly and T.K. flinched.

"I was born June fifth seveteen seventy-one" Exer added.

"Holy shit" T.K. said. "I thought you guys might be close to a hundred in real world years or something but..." he trailed off.

"You two are really two and a half centuries old?" Rika asked.

"Yup... I'll assume that Gennai told you enough about us to know basically what we do and our history." Exer said.

"The place we're standing in right now is an ancient place. It dates back to a time even before LongFangmon. The stained glass pictures are of passed guardians and angels" Liam said.

"But Gennai told us the Sovereign chose humans to be the guardian and that Exer was the only angel... There's gotta be dozens of guardians here and at least a dozen angels." Rika said counting the windows.

"The rights that grant us power were old when the Sovereign were young, they didn't create us they merely employed long lost powers... The guardian was once a balancing force in the world. Once ever generation a human would be brought here by the world itself to act as a balancing agent. The angel is a defense mechanism that the world would call forth only when it was threatened... That's why there are far fewer angels than guardians" Exer explained.

"Though the foolish idea of giving eternal youth belongs solely with the Sovereign" Liam added.

"Foolish?" T.K. asked.

"I suppose eternal youth wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for certain... Biological imperatives." Liam said bitterly.

"Imperatives" T.K. said bemused.

"The natural desire to pro-create" Rika said, she suddenly had a feeling she knew what they were there for.

"Yes" Exer said in a slightly high voice. They had reached the door.

"Eternal youth sounds great... Until your youngest child is a feeble old man, and you realize that soon you'll watch him die." Liam said. He put his hand on the door and rested his face on it and for a moment T.K. wondered if he was going to cry.

"By now I think you know what we are asking you to do" Exer said, stepping in front of them. "Rika we want you to take my place as the Angel of Light and T.K. we want you to be the new Guardian of Hope... Over the last several weeks you two have shown great skill in your battles against the Zodiac, both in combat and in leadership. Tonight you proved that your strength extends beyond your mind and body. You proved that you have the strength of heart to do battle with evil without losing yourself to it." Rika and T.K. looked at each other. Of all the things they thought Exer and Liam might be planning this had never entered their minds. "We're offering you this... But I give fair warning. With great power comes great responsibility. The fate of many worlds will rest on your shoulders."

"So you... You want us to... Kill you?" T.K. said. He felt rather like he was in a dream. He half expected to wake up in his bed and find that another of the Zodiac monsters was rampaging through the city.

"If that's the way you see it" Liam said grimly. "If you're going to take our place you have to get used to doing what is right... Which is rarely what is easy. Besides to us death isn't what it once was... Now it's just sort of another adventure to embark on... You'll need to decide... If you say no then our ambitions end... You'll wake up in your bed and think that those forests were just another nightmare... And we'll start our search all over again. If you say yes then we give you our powers... It's time your generation took control of it's destiny... What say you both?"

They both thought hard. The amount of power and responsibility these two were going to give them was overwhelming and more then a little frightening. It was also difficult to accept that taking these powers would be at least assisting in suicide. In the end neither of them could escape the fact that with the power these two were offering, they would be able to combat nearly any evil that might show itself.

"I'm in" they declared in unison.

"Good" Liam breathed. He moved his other hand up and pushed the large doors open to reveal an inner sanctum. It was a circular room with walls that were black on one side and white on the other. In the middle was a large pool of water. In the bottom of it they could see the yin yang symbol. They all stepped inside and the doors closed slowly behind them.

"Will you kneel?" Exer asked as her and Liam walked over and dipped their hands in the water. T.K. and Rika sank to one knee and when Liam and Exer pulled their hands out they were glowing with a strange aura. They walked over and placed the glowing hand on their successors head.

T.K. and Rika felt a strange energy fill them. It wasn't an adrenaline rush or anything biological. It didn't even feel like a surge of electricity. It felt warm and soothing, almost as if they were more connected with the world around them and with the people who were relinquishing they're very lives to them. For a moment they both felt as though their souls were one with Liam and Exer as they felt a huge surge of emotion that wasn't their own. It was not one of fear or sorrow, but one of anticipation and great joy. It was then that they realized that these two old souls were truly ready for it to be over. After a moment the light began to fade. T.K. had closed his eye's at the begging of it. He opened them expecting to see be starring at the side of the pool of water. Instead he was still facing Liam's leg.

"What happened?" T.K. asked confused.

"That spell will bind our powers to you once we're gone... But I'm afraid there is more to be done... Stand up" Exer said gravely. She pulled her staff off her back and passed it to Rika. Liam did the same with his swords. As the two handed over their weapons T.K. and Rika felt a warmth spread up their arms as they touched the weapons. The kind of feeling like seeing an old friends after a long separation. T.K. and Rika exchanged looks of horror when Liam and Exer each sank to a kneeling position in front of them and bowed their heads.

"In order for the transfer to be complete you must strike us down" Liam said firmly.

"We can't" Rika said.

"You were alright with it when you thought we were just going to fade away into nothing... It will not hurt us... It will free" Exer said. A moment later she sniffed slightly. "I want to see my family again."

"I wanna find my best friend from back home... And tell him how glad I am he married the fiance I left when I came here... And how I wouldn't have it any other way."

"I want to see the world beyond the sky."

"I want to learn the secrets of death"

"Come on heroes... Set us free" The two echoed in unison and their thin quivering voices told Rika and T.K. that they were crying. They eached raised their weapon above their head, shaking slightly. They brought them down with all their weight behind them. As soon as the weapon touched the flesh of the old protectors their worlds went black.

T.K. opened his eyes and saw darkness in all directions. The world around him seemed to be well lit though. He was standing on a massive circular platform in the middle of an abyss. The platform seemed to be made of the same Stained glass that had been prominent in the hall he had come from. He noticed that the yellow panes formed a crest of light that was trimmed with blue.

In each direction there was a pedestal with something on it. Though it wasn't so much an object as an essence. On one pedestal a flame danced back and forth changing from yellow to red every few seconds. On another a small tornado swirled tiny fragments of dirt around endlessly. The third had a rock floating a few inches above it. The final one had an orb of clear water floating a few inches above it, still and unchanging.

"Where am I?" T.K. asked aloud.

"Good question... Even if it is pointless" Liam said from behind him. T.K. jumped, he'd thought he was alone. "After this you'll never see this place again so it doesn't matter... Here you will choose a weapons... As the guardian you will have dominion over a single element. You may choose Fire, Air, Earth, or Water."

"Which is the best?" T.K. asked, though he doubted he would get a straight answer.

"Each has it's uses... Which one you pick can reveal something about your personality but I won't tell you until you choose, less I influence you... Just pick which one feels right to you" Liam said. T.K. closed his eyes and tried to think. Even as he did he had a sense that one of the elements was calling him. That he should choose water as his power. T.K. opened his eyes and over to the pedestal containing the clear sphere. He stuck his hand out and touched it. The moment he did he knew he had chosen correctly. The water spread from his finger tips and engulfed him as Liam began to speak.

"Water is the blood of the world, life cannot be sustained without it. It is quick and adjusts well to change. It is cool and soothing... this is a very wise choice T.K." After the water enveloped him there was a flash of light and it was gone.

"So what happens now?" T.K. asked turning to Liam for the first time. He saw that Liam didn't appear human. He was translucent like the specters in old cartoons.

"Now you go back to your life... And start trying to find your place as a Protector." Liam said.

"And you're going to cross over now?" T.K. asked.

"Yes... But before I go I have warning for you" Liam said darkly. "I've been sensing something for months... There is darkness on the horizon T.K. and if my theory is true then you will soon face an enemy the likes of which you have never known."

"Dragomon?" T.K. asked sounding scared.

"Yes... I'm sorry I could not find a way to destroy him in my lifetime, but it's time your generation took up the mantle we have held for so long and prove that you can do what we could not" Liam said. "You'll do it T.K... I know you will!" T.K. nodded smiling.

"Well... Any words of advice on how to deal with this? When the weight of the worlds is crashing down on you? And there doesn't seem to be anyway out?" T.K. asked only half joking.

"One foot... In front of the other" the tow laughed. "There is one more thing T.K... My test tonight was meant to do more then just test you... It was meant to show you that there may... No there will come a time when you have to use the powers of darkness in order to overcome your oponent. I know your feelings toward them... But you cannot close your mind... The guardian is a force of balance you must be ready to use darkness just as willingly as light... And always remember darkness is no more good or evil, then the wielder makes it so" Liam said as the world faded to black.

Rika was standing on a platform that was nearly identical to T.K.'s. Except that hers bore a white crest of light. Her's also had only three pedestals, each of which had a weapon hovering above it. One was a staff like Exer's another had a bow and arrow and the third had a long stick with a large blade on the end.

"You must choose your weapon" Exer said from behind her. "Each is indicative of something different... The staff is a defensive weapon, the bow is a balanced weapon and the naginata is an offensive weapon... Choose whichever you feel will serve you best." Rika couldn't explain it but she knew instantly which one to choose. She stepped forward and grasped the long wooden handle of the naginata and pulled it down. It was lighter then it looked.

"I can't explain it but this one just seems right." Rika said running her hands up and down the wood.

"I like the think that the implements choose the protectors... Listen closely Rika... You must be careful, as a pure source of light you can dispatch darkness easily, but you can also be easily corrupted. Should you attempt to purify someone you must show absolute conviction. You must know in your heart of hearts that you are righteous... Even as we speak evil forces are aware that power has changed hands... It will not be long before they move against you."

"Thanks for the heads up... One more thing" Rika said thinking of something. "I've been having these... These weird dreams."

"Dreams of battlefields and red skies? Dreams of your friends fighting a masked man?" Exer asked shrewdly. "I've been having them to... The visions of battle fields are things that once were... What you saw were my memories of the ancient war we won hundreds of years ago."

"Those were of the passed... Does that mean the visions with my friends are things that will be?" Rika asked. She felt like screaming. Many of her dreams ended with her friends being killed in front of her.

"No... Those are things that 'may' be Rika... Just as you chose that weapon the choices you make will shape what the world around you becomes... The future is not immutable you can change it Rika... Destiny is a myth... My final piece of advice is simple... Never lose sight of what is truly important and never forget how lucky you are that you have your friends to help you... Don't be too proud to ask for help" as she spoke the final word Rika felt herself falling and her world turned black.

T.K. landed in the exact same spot he had departed from hours before. Accept now the room was densely populated. Tai, Matt, Izzy, Sora, Davis, Ken, Yolei, Cody. Gennai and Kari all with their respective digimon were standing around the room talking. The all turned to gawk at him as he appeared.

"Thank god we were so" Kari began moving over to hug him but she stopped. T.K. was wearing a black hooded trench coat with golden trim, a matching cloak. In his belt were two silver swords, that looked like rough pieces of metal that had been hacked into sword shapes and around his neck was a large golden medallion with the crest of hope carved into it. T.K. realized what he was wearing and took a deep breath.

"I... I'm the... the guardian of hope now... Liam gave me his powers" T.K. said looking down at the medallion on his chest. "He's gone... He's dead." Everyone simultaneously looked at Gennai. It had been clear during his recounting of the war that he and Liam had been close.

"I suspected it might be something like this... Those digimon were tests?" Gennai asked his voice shaking.

"Yes" T.K. replied his mouth very dry. Now that he knew the reason for the madness, he felt bad for everything they had said about Liam and Exer. He had gotten the feeling when they were in the inner sanctum that there was a lot those two had done that he would never know about.

"He's at peace then... he isn't dead he's... star crossed" Gennai said as a single tear ran down his cheek. "During the war we were surrounded by so much death and uncertainty that we grew to hate saying the word 'death'... I wasn't religious even when I was human... Neither was he... I think Exer might have been Catholic but that didn't last long... So we wanted to find another phrase to say the same thing... We decided that when you die you get to see whats on the far side of the stars... So we started saying that anyone who died was star crossed." Everyone looked at Gennai and felt a surge of sympathy for the man who they realized had not gotten to say goodbye to the last friends he had left in this world. Tai went over and put his arm around the Gennai. "Go in piece my old friends... Whever you are."

"There's something else... Before he went Liam told me-" T.K. began recounting Liam's words to the others. Meanwhile the very forces he warned them of plotted against him.

Daemon knelt at the base of a set of steps leading to a magnificent throne. Atop the throne sat an enormous being. Jet black with a humanoid body and bat like wings. His head was reptilian with a great many teeth and when he spoke it was in a deep cold voice. "You are sure they have died?"

"Well my lord I-" Daemon began.

"Yes... I can feel it" a cloaked figure said emerging from the shadow's. "They gave their powers to the children... There are new protectors now." The figure pulled his hood down to reveal a handsome yet pale face with brilliant blue eye's and medium length blond hair.

"Those two shouldn't be a problem" Lilithmon said stepping from the shadow's.

"Do not forget that underestimating the protectors was your downfall before" the blond man said taunting her. "You underestimated their capacity for deceit and betrayal... and it was nearly the end of us all." Daemon rose to look the man in the eye. Before he could retort Dragomon spoke again.

"Enought... What was done was done... Your mistake was thinking you had the measure of the previous protectors... And theirs was thinking that his prison was a permanent solution... Joseph do you think we should proceed with the plans?"

"Yes but we should be cautious... Liam and Exer have already proven their willingness to defy the Sovereign... I suspect they were far more clever and and much more capable of guile then anyone ever realized... We must assume that they have guessed our intentions and have left the children powers to even the score... Spells from the old world, weapons and techniques... The more we can execute before we are discovered the better our chances of success."

"First we must figure out which of the children have the traits we need for the ceremony" Daemon said, turning to look at Dragomon.

"Do it" Dragomon replied. Daemon and Lilithmon bowed and left the room. Joseph turned to leave but Dragomon stopped him.

"Not just yet Champion... There is another matter we must discuss... I think that one of the children might be able to be... persuaded to defect to our side... Think you're up to the task?" Dragomon asked in a voice that dripped malevolence.

"What do you wish of me... Oh great lord of darkness?" Joseph asked in return as the two roared with laughter.

While T.K. and Rika explained what had happened to them and Dragomon plotted against them there was another occurrence. At an unseen cross roads of time and space a young women in a long white robe sat on the ground, tracing a small circle on the clean white floor with hand. She was not in a room. It was simply a stretch of tile with a large doorway. She suddenly heard footsteps and a young man emerged from the white abyss that surrounded them on all sides.

"I thought you'd never get here... What'd you do read him an inspirational novel?" Exer asked playfully.

"I warned him about our suspicions... And I figured you already would've gone in." Liam said walking over and helping her up. Exer sighed.

"I can't learn the secrets of death without my best friend" she pulled him into a tight hug burying her face into his chest. It was finally ending. All their trials pain and suffering were over. Yet here standing at the horizon of the prize they had sought so long, they faltered. "I'm scared Liam." she whispered.

"Yeah... I guess I am too" Liam replied as he pulled away. He took her hand and laced their fingers together. "But whatever is over there we'll face it together... Come on Ex... Lets get a behind the scenes look at eternity." as if on queue the giant doors open bathing them both in a brilliant white light. Hand in hand, side by side they stepped simultaneously through the doors.

With that the two old souls slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of god.

**End of Worlds Apart**

**A/N: Well this is actually the first story I've ever 'completed'. I had originally intended it to go a few more chapters... but it just seemed right to end it with my OC's dieing and Rika and T.K. taking over for them. The final line in this story is a reference to a famous poem. If you've never heard it before just google 'to slip the surly bonds of earth' and you'll find plenty of links to it... I thought it seemed appropriate here. There will be a sequel story... The working title is 'Protectors Rising' thought I'm not sure about it. I don't know when I'll start writing that. I recently started writing a piece of original fiction and I'd kinda like to finish some other stories I have up here first but we'll see. A thanks to everyone who reviewed this story and I hope it was good enough to make you want to read the sequel. Also for this last chapter please let me know what you thought of the story as a whole as well as this final chapter. **


	12. The Dark Sovereign - Prologue

**A/N: The wait is over! I'm posting this for anyone who doesn't have me as a favorite author so you will know that I have begun the sequel to "Worlds Apart" which is titled "The Dark Sovereign". I am uploading the first chapter of that simultaneously and I hope you all will enjoy it as much as this story! As always whether you think my writing is good or bad review and tell me so. **

**The Dark Sovereign**

Prologue

"When will your preparations be complete?" Daemon asked, watching Heller pull down a large book from a shelf.

"As soon as I have found all the spells that I might need." Heller said, opening the book and scanning through a table of contents written in ancient forgotten runes.

"And how long will that take?" Daemon asked, not bothering to disguise the impatience in his voice. "The longer those two have to train the more difficult they will be to kill." Heller slammed the book closed with a sudden crack that echoed around the dimly lit library.

"I'm well aware of the progress they will have made... In case you've forgotten, I've done it all before." Heller said, placing the book back on the shelf. "But we only have enough blood left to perform the sending ceremony once since you managed to botch our last attempt at escape." Daemon gritted his teeth at the mention of his disgraceful banishment at the hands of the Destined children. "So if I fail then you will all be trapped here forever. I suggest you leave me to my research." Heller walked down the shelf running his index finger over the spines of the books as he looked for a tome on sacrifices.

"Do you really think these children stand a chance against you, or any of us for that matter? They could only contain me" Daemon said half laughing.

"I think that arrogance could lead to our demise... I will be weak after the sending and it will take weeks if not months for me to return to full strength during this time I will have to be careful to conceal myself or risk destruction at the hands of Imperialdramon." Heller said pulling down another book and opening it. He walked to a table a short distance away and dropped the book onto it. The book showed two people strapped to a table with their legs and hands tied to force their body into the shape of a Y. "Leave me... I have only one more spell to find and then I'll be off." Daemon turned and took a step toward the door, before stopping and turning back to Heller, who was standing looking over at the book muttering the meanings of the runes to himself.

"Heller... Has he been quiet?" Daemon asked in a serious tone. Heller looked up, his eyes a mixture of fear and hatred. It was the first time in recent memory that he had displayed any emotion like this.

"Of coarse he has!" Heller shouted. "What type of weakling do you take me for?" Daemon said nothing but turned and departed. Heller took a few deep breathes, his composure returning. He looked down and saw that he had balled his hands into fists and the knuckles had gone white. He returned to reading the book. Tonight he would study, and tomorrow the first part of their plan would begin.


End file.
